THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

Ex  Libris 

Katharine  F.  Richmond 

and 
Henry  C.  Fall 


JULY    FOURTH,    1761 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE 


Commtmoralion  of  t\t  DM  fjnnktbtjj 


CHARTER  OF  LEBANON,  N.  H., 


DELIVERED   JULY   FOURTH,   18G1, 


BY      R3BV.      ID.      H.      ALLEN,      D.   D . , 
OP   WALNUT    HILLS,    OHIO. 


BOSTON: 

J.  E.  FAUWELL  &  COMPANY,  PRINTERS  TO  THE  CITY, 

No.    32     CONOUKSS    STRKET. 

1  8  G  2 . 


LEBANON,  December  8,  1861. 
DR.  ALLEN  : 

DEAR  SIR  :  In  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Lebanon,  we  return  you  their  thanks 
for  the  interesting  Historical  Discourse,  in  commemoration  of  the  One  Hun- 
dredth Anniversary  of  the  Charter  of  the  Town,  delivered  July  4,  1861 ;  and 
respectfully  request  a  copy  for  publication. 
Truly  yours, 

CHARLES  A.  DOWNS, 

For  the  Committee  of  the  Town. 


WALNUT  HILLS,  December  14,  1861. 
To  THE  COMMITTEE  or  THE  TOWN  or  LEBANON  : 

GENTLEMEN  :   In  placing  a  copy  of  my  Address  in  your  hands  for  publica- 
tion, agreeably  to  your  request,  permit  me  to  express  the  hope  that  you  will 
add  to  it  such  notes  as  will  compensate  for  the  haste  with  which  it  was  neces- 
sarily prepared,  and  make  it  a  much  more  valuable  history  of  the  town. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  fellow-townsman, 

D.  H.  ALLEN. 


F 
H4 


ADDRESS. 


SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS  OF  LEBANON  : 

WE  may  be  allowed  to  congratulate  each  other  to- 
day, that  this,  our  national  anniversary,  so  dear  to 
every  true  American  citizen ;  and  especially,  that  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1861,  when  the  Congress  of  these 
United  States  meets  on  the  most  important  business 
that  ever  called  them  together,  a  day  destined,  there- 
fore, to  be  historic  among  all  the  fourths  of  July,  past, 
and  future,  that  this  day  should  be  the  centennial  an- 
niversary of  the  charter  of  our  town. 

We  meet  to-day,  by  the  invitation  of  the  "  old  folks 
at  home,"  to  exchange  friendly  greetings ;  to  look  once 
more  upon  these  beautiful  green  hills,  and  these  grand 
old  rocks ;  to  revive  the  memories  of  our  common 
birthplace,  and  to  take  a  rapid  review  of  our  family 
records  for  these  hundred  years  past. 

It  becomes  me  at  the  outset,  in  the  name  of  all  who 
are  gathered  here  from  abroad,  to  thank  the  good 
people  of  Lebanon,  adopted  as  well  as  native,  for  the 
generous  invitation  which  has  called  us  back  to  the 
home  of  our  childhood,  and  for  the  spirit  with  which . 
they  have  prepared  for  this  celebration. 

The  idea  of  celebrating  the  settlement  of  New  Eng- 
land towns,  now  that  so  many  of  them  can  number 
their  years  by  the  century,  is  worthy  to  be  cherished. 


4  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

Nowhere  else,  either  in  our  own  or  foreign  lands,  does 
the  town  sustain  such  relations  to  the  state  and  na- 
tion. Nowhere  else  has  the  town  system  such  a  bearing 
upon  the  character  and  habits  of  the  people  as  here. 
Out  of  New  England,  and  especially  in  the  South  and 
West,  except  in  localities  which  bear  the  New  England 
stamp,  the  town  or  township  is  hardly  known.  It  is 
lost  in  the  county.  Multitudes  cannot  tell  the  town- 
ship in  which  they  live.  They  will  speak  of  their  na- 
tive county,  seldom  of  their  native  town. 

The  distinguished  French  political  philosopher,  De 
Tocqueville,  who  studied  Democracy  in  America  more 
thoroughly,  and  unfolded  it  more  correctly  than  any 
other  foreigner  has  ever  done,  did  not  fail  to  discover 
-the  immense  influence  of  the  town  system  of  New  Eng- 
land upon  the  character  and  government  of  the  nation. 
He  begins  his  examination  of  our  entire  political  sys- 
tem with  the  township. 

His  language  is  :  [in  New  England]  "  The  impulsion 
of  political  activity  was  given  in  the  townships,  and  it 
may  almost  be  said  that  each  of  them  originally  formed 
an  independent  nation.  .  .  .  They  are  subordinate 
to  the  State  only  in  those  interests  which  are  common 
to  all  the  people;  they  are  independent  in  all  that  con- 
cerns themselves.  .  .  .  The  sphere  of  the  town 
is  small  indeed,  and  limited,  but  within  that  sphere  its 
action  is  unrestrained.  The  New  Englander  is  attach- 
ed to  his  township,  not  only  because  he  was  born  in  it, 
but  because  it  constitutes  a  strong  and  free  social  body 
of  which  he  is  a  member,  whose  government  claims  and 
deserves  the  exercise  of  his  sagacity." 

This  testimony  of  De  Tocqueville  is  just.     The  gov- 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 


ernment  of  a  New  England  town  is  more  nearly  a  pure 
democracy  than  can  be  found  anywhere  else  under  the 
sun.  The  "  March  meeting  "  is  the  annual  session  of 
this  democratic  legislature.  The  people  come  together 
to  discuss,  face  to  face,  the  measures  to  be  adopted ;  to 
assess  taxes  and  vote  appropriations  ;  to  select  and  in- 
struct their  officers.  In  these  primary  meetings  of  the 
people,  the  orators  of  New  England,  great  and  small, 
take  their  first  lessons.  Here  are  learned  those  princi- 
ples of  freedom  and  self-government,  which  make  the 
New  Englander,  politically,  what  he  is,  wherever  he 
goes,  the  Democrat,  in  the  true  and  proper  sense  of  the 
term ;  familiar  with  the  foundations  of  the  social  struc- 
ture, and  fit  to  be  a  citizen  of  a  Republic,  whose  first 
principle  is,  that  the  will  of  the  people  is  law. 

Aside,  then,  from  all  matters  of  a  personal  and  so- 
cial concern ;  aside  from  the  cultivation  of  reverence  for 
home  and  ancestry,  in  which,  as  a  people,  we  Ameri- 
cans are  sadly  deficient,  there  are  reasons  enough  for 
such  a  celebration  in  the  very  idea  of  a  New  England 
town. 

The  period  of  the  settlement  which  we  are  met  to 
commemorate  was  one  of  deep  interest  in  the  history 
of  our  country.  George  the  Third  had  just  ascended 
the  throne  of  England.  The  old  French  war,  which 
resulted  in  giving  England  the  possession  of  the  Can- 
adas,  was  drawing  to  a  close.  England  was  then  in 
possession  of  almost  the  entire  North  American  conti- 
nent. Her  arms  had  been  successful  in  every  part  of 
the  globe.  She  had  risen  to  the  very  heights  of  mili- 
tary glory.  And  now  the  project  of  taxing  the  colo- 
nies which  had  been  laid  aside  during  the  war,  was 


6  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

revived.  His  Majesty's  subjects  in  America  had 
sacrficed  a  multitude  of  lives  in  fighting  his  battles, 
and  thereby  added  immensely  to  his  territories  and 
his  wealth.  And  why  should  they  not  also  pay  the 
bills  I 

The  Stamp  Act  was  passed  in  1765  ;  and  the  years 
following  were  filled  up  with  those  acts  of  encroach- 
ment and  oppression,  which  were  destined  to  result 
very  soon  in  terminating  forever  British  rule  in  the 
largest  and  fairest  portion  of  her  North  American  pos- 
sessions. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  the  settlement  of  this  part 
of  the  Connecticut  valley,  was  the  French  war.  In 
the  progress  of  that  war,  the  New  England  troops  had 
cut  a  road  from  the  older  settlements  in  the  south  part 
of  the  Province,  through  Charleston,  then  called  No.  4, 
to  Crownpoint.  The  soldiers  in  passing  through  this 
valley,  became  acquainted  with  its  fertility  and  value, 
and  as  soon  as  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  consequent 
upon  the  battle  of  Quebec,  would  permit,  a  swarm  of 
adventurers  and  speculators  began  to  seek  possession 
of  these  lands.  The  hardy  yeomanry,  too,  of  Connect- 
icut and  Massachusetts,  saw  here  a  chance  to  better 
their  condition ;  consequently  emigrants  flocked  hither, 
somewhat  as  they  have  done  in  these  later  years  to  the 
prairie  lands  of  the  West. 

Benning  Wentworth,  then  governor  of  the  Province 
of  New  Hampshire,  directed  a  survey  of  these  lands 
to  be  made  ;  at  first,  of  sixty  townships,  extending 
sixty  miles  on  the  river,  and  three  townships  deep  on 
each  side.  Soon  after,  new  surveys  were  made,  both 
north  and  west.  In  the  year  in  which  our  charter  is 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 


dated,  sixty  such  charters  were  granted  on  the  west  of 
the  river,  and  eighteen  on  the  east  side.  The  charter 
of  Enfield  is  dated  on  the  same  day  as  that  of  Lebanon, 
as  also  those  of  Hartford  and  Norwich,  the  proprietors 
being  from  the  same  neighborhood.  This  number  of 
grants  was  more  than  doubled  in  the  next  two  years  ; 
not  inappropriately  therefore,  might  this  Fourth  of 
July  have  been  made  the  centennial  anniversary  of  this 
central  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  in  which  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  towns  in  this  part  of  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont  should  have  met  at  White  River  Junc- 
tion, to  celebrate  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  their  fathers 
in  taking  possession  of  these  hills  and  valleys,  and  sub- 
duing them  for  their  posterity. 

We  must  now  confine  ourselves  more  exclusively  to 
our  own  town.  After  the  destruction  of  Louisburg,  in 
1758,  William  Dana  and  three  companions,  Connect- 
icut soldiers,  came  across  Maine  to  the  Connecticut 
River,  designing  to  follow  it  down  to  theii'  homes.  In 
passing  through  this  region,  they  found  much  to  ad- 
mire and  covet,  and  Mr.  Dana  determined  to  secure  a 
home  here.  On  his  return  to  Connecticut,  a  company 
was  formed,  and  the  charter  of  this  town  was  obtain- 
ed from  Governor  Wentworth,  bearing  date  July  4th, 
1761. 

The  main  provisions  of  this  charter  are  these  :  The 
town  was  to  be  six  miles  square.  As  soon  as  there 
should  be  fifty  families  resident  in  the  town  they  were 
to  have  the  privilege  of  holding  two  annual  fairs  ;  and 
a  market  might  be  opened,  and  kept  one  or  more  days 
each  week.  The  conditions  of  the  charter  were  these  : 
1.  That  every  grantee,  for  every  fifty  acres  in  his 


8  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

share,  should  plant  and  cultivate  five,  within  the  term 
of  five  years.  2.  That  all  white  and  other  pine  trees, 
fit  for  masting  the  royal  navy,  should  be  reserved  for 
that  purpose.  3.  That  from  a  tract  of  land  near  the 
centre  of  the  town  every  grantee  should  have  one  acre 
as  a  town  lot.  4.  That  for  the  space  of  ten  years  one 
ear  of  Indian  corn  was  to  be  paid  annually  as  rent,  if 
lawfully  demanded ;  the  first  payment  to  be  made  on 
the  25th  of  December,  1762.  After  the  expiration  of 
ten  years  every  proprietor,  settler,  or  inhabitant,  was 
to  pay  for  every  hundred  acres  owned  by  him,  one  shil- 
ling proclamation  money,  forever.  One  whole  share 
of  land  (about  338  acres)  was  reserved  for  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts ; 
one  whole  share  for  a  glebe  for  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land ;  one  whole  share  for  the  first  settled  minister ; 
one  for  the  benefit  of  schools,  and  five  hundred  acres 
for  the  use  of  Benning  Wentworth,  'the  royal  gov- 
ernor. 

NAMES    OF    THE    GRANTEES    OF    LEBANON. 

John  Hanks,  David  Eldredge, 

John  Salter,  Nathan  Arnold, 

Obadiah  Loorais,  Levi  Hyde, 

Elijah  Huntington,  John  Birchard, 

Huckins  Storrs,  John  Allen, 

Kobert  Barrows,  Jan.,  Lemuel  Clark,  . 

Jesse  Birchard,  Joseph  Wood, 

Richard  Salter,  Moses  Hebard,  Jun., 

Constant  Southworth,  John  Hyde, 

Hobart  Estabrooks,  Josiah  Storrs, 

Benjamin  Davis,  Nathan  Blodgett, 

Daniel  Blodgett  -vc  M-  Robert  Hyde, 

Thomas  Storrs,  Jesse  Birchard, 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 


Charles  Hill, 
James  Turner, 
Jonathan  Martin, 
Samuel  Storrs, 
Joshua  Blodgett, 
Nehemiah  Estabrooks, 
Jonathan  Yeomans, 
Jonathan  Walcutt, 
Jabez  Barrows, 
Jonathan  Murdock, 
John  Birchard, 
Daniel  Blodgett, 
Eobert  Martin, 
Thomas  Barrows,  Jun., 
Joseph  Dana, 
John  Swift, 
Daniel  Allen,  Jun., 
John  Baldwin, 


John  Storrs, 
Seth  Blodgett, 
Nathaniel  Porter, 
Nathaniel  Hall, 
David  Turner, 
Joseph  Martin, 
Judah  Storrs, 
Edward  Goldstone, 
Jonathan  Blanchard, 

Lutwhich, 

William  Dana, 
James  Nevins,  Esq., 
Samuel  Penhallow, 
Oniel  Lament, 
Jedediah  Dana, 

"^  Mark  Huntington  Wentworth,  Esq., 
Hugh  Hall  Wentworth, 
William  Knight, 
Clement  Jackson,  Esq. 


A  majority  of  these  persons  were  of  Lebanon,  Conn. 
They  therefore  gave  the  new  town  in  the  wilderness 
the  name  of  their  loved  native  home,  —  a  name  orig- 
inally given  to  that  town  in  Connecticut,  from  the 
circumstance  that  there  was  found  there  a  valley  of 
cedars,  suggestive  of  the  "  cedars  of  Lebanon." 

You  will  notice  that  the  governor  reserved  to  him- 
self five  hundred  acres  of  land  in  this  town.  He  did 
the  same  in  every  grant  through  all  this  region,  thus 
securing  to  himself  the  title  to  some  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land.  His  successor,  John  Wentworth,  disap- 
pointed in  finding  that  these  lands  were  not  willed 
to  him,  set  aside  all  these  titles,  and,  assuming  what 
is  now  known  as  the  squatter  sovereignty  principle, 
granted  them  to  the  actual  settlers  upon  them. 


10  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  proprietors  under  the  char- 
ter, was  held  at  Mansfield,  Conn.,  October  6th,  1761. 
A  committee  was  then  chosen  to  lay  out  the  lots  and 
roads,  with  instructions  to  begin  immediately. 

To  encourage  the  speedy  settlement  of  the  town,  the 
proprietors  "  voted  that  those  of  their  number,  who 
shall  settle  upon  their  lands  within  the  term  of  ten 
years,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  cultivating  and  im- 
proving such  part  of  the  intervals  as  shall  suit  them  ; 
with  these  restrictions  :  that  the  interval  so  improved 
by  them  be  in  one  piece  or  body,  and  when  said  inter- 
val shall  be  divided  amongst  the  proprietors  those 
persons  aforesaid  shall  have  their  proportion  of  the 
interval  so  cultivated  by  them." 

These  intervals  along  the  Connecticut  were  wonder- 
ful affairs  in  those  days.  In  our  boyhood,  before  we 
had  looked  upon  prairies  larger  than  the  whole  State 
of  New  Hampshire,  we  used  to  think  them  immense. 
We  boys  of  the  hills  used  to  feel  some  envy  of  their 
fortunate  possessors.  We  are  not  surprised,  therefore, 
to  find  that  the  proprietors  thought  them  a  valuable 
prize. 

The  town  was  immediately  surveyed  and  the  work  of 
clearing  begun.  How  carefully  the  pioneers  regarded 
the  condition  of  their  charter,  to  cut  down  no  "  pine 
tree  fit  for  masting  the  royal  navy,"  we  are  not  in- 
formed. They  probably  had  no  great  fear  of  his  Maj- 
esty's officers  before  their  eyes,  inasmuch  as  the  laws 
of  England  required  that  a  breach  of  a  condition  in  a 
grant  of  land  should  be  proved  before  a  jury  commis- 
sioned by  a  court  of  chancery,  and  no  such  court  ex- 
isted in  the  Province  of  New  Hampshire. 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  11 

The  labor  of  clearing  these  lands  was  very  great. 
They  were  all  burdened  with  an  immense  growth  of 
the  heaviest  timber,  never  before  disturbed  by  the 
woodman's  axe.  That  woodman's  axe  furnished  the 
reveille  of  those  sturdy  conquerors  of  the  forest,  and 
their  morning  gun  of  salutation  to  their  neighbors  was 
a  huge  pine,  hemlock,  or  maple,  thundering  and  crash- 
ing to  the  ground. 

Notwithstanding  the  labor  of  providing  for  them- 
selves a  home  here,  settlers  came  here  rapidly.  The 
second  winter,  1762-3,  four  men  remained  here.  Five 
years  later  the  population  of  the  town  was  162,  viz : 
males  over  sixteen  years  of  age  and  under  sixty,  42  ; 
under  sixteen,  50.  Females,  married,  30  ;  unmarried, 
including  children,  40.  In  1775,  the  total  population 
was  347.  The  revolutionary  war  arrested,  for  a  time, 
the  tide  of  emigration  to  this  vicinity,  and  made  heavy 
drafts  upon  its  scattered  inhabitants  for  the  army.  The 
sixth  company  of  the  first  battalion  of  the  Continen- 
tal army  of  New  Hampshire  seems  to  have  been  made 
up  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  from  this  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. John  House,  of  Hanover,  was  captain,  and 
Thomas  Blake,  of  Lebanon,  was  ensign.  Some  twen- 
ty-five or  thirty  were  in  the  army  from  this  town.  Lu- 
ther Wheatley,  Edward  Slapp,  Eleazer  M.  Porter, 
David  Millington,  and  Capt.  Joseph  Estabrooks,  are 
said  to  have  lost  their  lives  in  the  war. 

After  the  war  the  population  increased  quite  rap- 
idly, so  that,  as  early  as  1790,  it  amounted  to  nearly 
1,200.  The  character  of  these  early  settlers  may  be 
inferred,  not  only  from  the  herculean  labors  they  were 
obliged  to  undergo,  in  order  to  provide  for  themselves 


12  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

a  home  and  support  their  families,  but  from  the  inter- 
est they  manifested  in  education  and  religion. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  and  one  well  worthy  of  our  no- 
tice, that  the  very  first  record  of  the  town  now  extant 
is  a  vote  passed  May  13th,  1765,  in  respect  to  preach- 
ing in  the  town.  That  vote  is  as  follows :  "  Whether 
we  will  have  a  minister  in  the  town  this  summer,  or 
will  not?  Voted  the  affirmative.  3d.  That  we  first 
send  subscriptions  to  ye  neighboring  towns,  and  get 
what  we  can  subscribed,  and  what  remains  wanting 
to  supply  the  pulpit  six  months,  will  stand  'sponsible 
for  —  to  be  paid  at  ye  end  of  six  months.  4th.  Chose 
Aaron  Storrs  to  carry  a  subscription ;  to  take  care 
to  get  as  much  in  ye  neighboring  towns  as  he  can. 
5th.  Voted  that  the  select  men  take  it  upon  them  to 
seek  quarters  for  the  minister,  and  provide  for  his  ac- 
commodation." 

That  they  were  disposed  to  deal  liberally  with  their 
minister  is  evident  from  the  first  record  in  regard  to  a 
salary.  In  1768  the  town  voted  to  give  a  Mr.  Wales  a 
call  to  settle  in  the  gospel  ministry.  "  His  salary  the 
first  year  was  to  be  £  50,  and  to  rise  annually  £  5  till 
it  should  be  £  70."  If  we  bear  in  mind  that  money 
was  then  worth  more  than  double  what  it  now  is,  we 
shall  see  that  this  first  salary,  voted  when  the  town 
numbered  not  more  than  two  hundred  inhabitants,  all 
told,  was  equivalent  to  a  salary  of  five  or  six  hundred 
dollars  at  this  day ;  and  equivalent  to  a  salary  of  six 
thousand  dollars  to  be  paid  by  the  present  inhabitants. 

These,  our  fathers,  had  been  accustomed  for  many 
years  to  an  able  and  faithful  ministry  of  the  Word  of 
God,  under  such  men  as  Rev.  Dr.  Wheelock,  pastor  of 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  13 

the  church  of  Lebanon,  and  Rev.  Richard  Salter,  pastor 
of  the  church  of  Mansfield,  Conn.  They  knew  the 
value,  to  themselves  and  families,  of  the  regular  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  on  the  Sabbath,  and  were  ready  to 
make  any  sacrifices  to  obtain  it. 

They  knew,  too,  the  worth  of  education.  As  early 
as  1767,  we  find  on  the  town  records  a  vote  to  estab- 
lish a  school.  September  7,  1768,  twenty  pounds  were 
appropriated  to  support  it,  and  a  committee,  consisting 
of  Asa  Kilbourne  and  Joseph  Wood,  was  chosen  to 
take  charge  of  it.  This  first  school  was  kept  by  Mr. 
John  Wheatley  in  a  log  school-house,  east  of  the  for- 
mer residence  of  Capt.  Joseph  Wood. 

In  1775,  four  school  districts  were  established;  and 
in  1784,  eight.  In  1781,  the  land  reserved  in  the  char- 
ter for  the  Church  of  England,  and  for  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  was 
appropriated  for  the  support  of  schools.  In  respect  to 
education,  the  town  was  highly  favored  by  the  location 
of  Dartmouth  College  in  its  vicinity  as  early  as  1769, 
by  which  the  thirst  for  education  was  nurtured,  and 
a  supply  of  well-trained  teachers  furnished.  This  re- 
mark, of  course,  will  not  be  understood  to  imply  that 
all  our  good  teachers  were  from  the  college.  Indeed 
there  can  be  no  question,  that  the  same  causes  which 
led  to  the  settlement  of  this  region  at  that  time,  also 
determined  the  location  of  Dartmouth  College. 

As  early  as  1758,  there  was  a  movement  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  Province  of  New  Hampshire  to 
obtain  a  charter  for  a  college.  Negotiations  were  in 
progress  to  this  end,  and  several  conventions  of  min- 
isters held  for  the  purpose,  when  the  plans  of  Dr. 


14  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

Wheelock  were  made  known  to  them  about  1763,  and 
further  proceedings  were  arrested.  Dr.  Wheelock's 
Indian  Charity  School,  be  it  remembered,  was  in  Leba- 
non, Conn.  Our  fathers,  of  course,  were  all  familiar 
with  his  plans.  His  desire  was  to  remove  into  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Indians,  in  the  hope  that  large 
numbers  of  them  would  avail  themselves  of  the  advan- 
tages of  civilization  and  religion.  In  this  town  were 
not  a  few  of  his  former  parishioners,  now  opening  their 
homes  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Indians  themselves. 
What  more  natural,  then,  than  that  in  selecting  a  new 
locality  for  his  favorite  school,  he  should  follow  the 
steps  of  his  old  neighbors  and  friends,  and  choose  for 
his  permanent  resting-place  a  spot,  at  once  near  to 
them  and  to  the  native  Red  men,  whom  he  sought  spe- 
cially to  benefit  ? 

While  speaking  of  Dartmouth  College,  I  will  men- 
tion an  incident  which,  while  it  illustrates  the  charac- 
ter of  the  prominent  actors,  also  shows  the  facilities  for 
travel  and  transportation  which  our  fathers  enjoyed. 

In  the  life  of  General  Eaton,  who  was  well  known 
about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  in  connec- 
tion with  his  expedition  to  Algiers,  we  read  :  "  In  May, 
1787,  with  his  staff  over  his  shoulder,  on  which  was 
suspended  his  pack,  containing  his  linen  and  a  few 
trinkets,  which  he  expected  to  sell  on  his  journey,  and 
with  one  pistareen  only  of  ready  money,  he  started  on 
foot  from  Mansfield,  Conn.,  for  Dartmouth  College. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  freshman  class,  and  graduated 
in  1790.  After  a  journey  to  Connecticut,  he  returned 
to  Hanover  and  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts, 
August  28th.  The  object  of  that  journey,  his  biogra- 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  15 

pher  probably  had  no  means  of  knowing.  The  early 
settlers  hereabouts  could  have  told  him.  It  was  to 
procure  the  first  bell  of  Dartmouth  College  ;  and,  so 
far  as  we  know,  the  first  bell  whose  sounds  were  echo- 
ed through  these  forests.  He  went  in  a  horse-cart  to 
Hartford,  Conn.,  and  after  an  absence  of  two  or  three 
weeks,  reached  Hanover  on  the  afternoon  before 
Commencement.  The  bell  was  immediately  suspended 
from  a  tree,  and  soon  made  the  welkin  ring  with  a  new 
sound,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  the  inhabitants  and  of  all 
the  visitors  on  that  occasion. 

The  location  of  Dartmouth  College  has  proved  in 
many  ways  a  blessing  to  this  town;  and  the  town  has 
contributed  freely  to  the  aid  of  the  college.  Fourteen 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  were  given  to  Dr. 
Wheelock  for  the  use  of  the  college ;  and  money  has 
been  contributed  freely,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  re- 
lief of  its  necessities.  Fifty-four  of  her  alumni*  were 
from  this  town,  and  one  of  the  honored  dead  of  her 
faculty,  f 

The  first  settlers  of  this  town  and  their  fellow- 
pioneers  of  this  valley  were  fully  up  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  They  would  submit  to  no 
oppression,  either  by  foreign  or  home  governments. 

Another  will  call  your  attention  from  the  past  to  the 
present,  and  perhaps  speak  of  the  unhappy  struggle 
through  which  our  country  is  passing. 


*  See  Appendix,  No.  1. 

t  Ira  Young,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy.  One  other 
consequence  of  the  vicinity  of  Dartmouth  College  should  not  be  passed 
without  notice.  And  that  is  the  fact,  that  many  of  her  graduates  have  found 
here  what  Solomon  calls  a  "  good  thing  "  —  a  wife.  —  D. 


16  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

It  may,  however,  serve  to  temper  our  zeal  against  the 
secessionists  of  the  South,  to  be  reminded  that  our  fathers 
were  the  first  secessionists.  The  history  which  records 
their  uprising  is  not  very  luminous,  as  to  details,  but  is 
substantially  this :  — 

The  original  grant  of  New  Hampshire  was  made  to 
John  Mason,  and  extended  sixty  miles  from  the  sea. 
The  line  passed  from  Rindge  through  the  west  part  of 
Concord,  striking  Lake  Winnipiseogee.  Later  acts 
extended  its  western  boundary  to  Lake  Champlain. 
Under  these  last,  grants  of  townships  were  made,  as 
before  noticed,  on  both  sides  of  the  Connecticut.  In 
1764,  a  decree  of  the  King  in  Council  was  passed, 
limiting  New  Hampshire  to  the  Connecticut. 

The  grants  to  New  York  were  not  very  definitely 
bounded ;  and  in  consequence,  a  fierce  strife  arose  as 
to  the  right  of  New  York  to  control  the  land  between 
the  Lake  and  the  Connecticut  River.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  towns  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  mainly 
from  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  and  -their  views 
of  public  policy  coincided.  They  were  hence  not  very 
well  satisfied  with  the  decree  which  separated  them 
from  each  other ;  and  when,  after  the  Revolution,  mea- 
sures were  adopted  for  framing  a  constitution  for  New 
Hampshire,  their  dissatisfaction  and  independence  were 
made  manifest.  Vermont  had  petitioned  Congress  to 
be  received  into  the  Confederacy  as  an  independent 
State  ;  and  a  portion  of  the  people,  in  many  towns  on 
this  side  of  the  river  desired  to  unite  with  them.  In 
sixteen  towns,  of  which  Lebanon  was  one,  this  portion 
was  a  majority.  They  took  the  position,  that,  since 
the  government  of  Great  Britain  was  overthrown,  they 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  17 

were  left  to  their  own  natural  sovereignty ;  that  the 
original  grant  of  New  Hampshire  extended  but  sixty 
miles  from  the  sea ;  that  these  townships  were  in- 
dependent grants,  each  in  itself  a  sovereign  political 
organization ;  that  they  had  been  attached  first  to  this 
and  then  to  that  larger  sovereignty  ;  and  now,  as  the 
power  which  had  assumed  thus  to  dispose  of  them  was 
overthrown,  they  were  in  all  respects  their  own  mas- 
ters, and  might  attach  themselves  to  what  State  they 
pleased.* 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained,  that  by  their 
own  acts,  in  receiving  grants  and  protection  from  New 
Hampshire,  they  had  acknowledged  the  sovereignty 
of  that  State  over  them.  These  views  were  the  subject 
of  fiery  discussion  and  conflict  through  all  the  towns 
bordering  on  the  river.  Each  town  acted  for  itself, 
and  every  man  in  each  town  acted  for  himself.  Their 
entire  independence  of  each  other  will  appear  at  once 
from  the  fact,  that  seceding  towns  were  not  in  all  cases 
adjoining  each  other.  No  common  tie  of  domestic  in- 
stitutions, or  social  relations,  held  together  these  first 
seceding  sovereignties. 

These  towns  were  Cornish,  Lebanon,  Dresden,  (now 
Hanover  Plain,)  Lyme,  Orford,  Piermont,  Haverhill, 
Bath,  Lyman,  Apthorp,  (now  Littleton  and  Dalton,) 
Enfield,  Canaan,  Orange,  Landaff,  New  Concord,  (now 
Lisbon,)  and  Franconia. 

These  towns  refused  to  send  delegates  to  the  Conven- 
tion which  formed  the  Constitution  of  New  Hampshire, 


*  In  their   own   significant  phrase,    "  they    had    returned    to    a  state   of 
nature." — D. 


18  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

but  united  together  in  a  petition  to  the  Vermont  Assem- 
bly, which  then  met  at  Windsor,  to  be  received  as  a 
part  of  that  State.  The  question  was  submitted  to  the 
people  of  Vermont,  and  decided  by  public  vote  in  favor 
of  receiving  the  towns.  They  were  accordingly  admit- 
ted as  a  part  of  that  State,  and  gave  notice  to  New 
Hampshire  that  they  had  become  Vermonters,  and  ask- 
ed for  an  amicable  settlement  of  a  boundary  line  be- 
tween the  States. 

The  government  of  New  Hampshire,  however,  was 
by  no  means  disposed  to  recognize  the  right  of  seces- 
sion. The  President  of  New  Hampshire,  for  so  the 
highest  officer  of  the  State  was  then  called,  Hon. 
Mesheck  Weare,  wrote  to  Governor  Chittenden,  of 
Vermont,  claiming  still  these  towns,  making  an  able 
argument  against  secession.  "  Were  not  these  towns 
settled  and  cultivated  under  the  grant  of  the  Governor 
of  New  Hampshire?  Are  they  not  within  the  lines 
thereof  I  Did  not  the  most  of  these  towns 

send  delegates  to  the  convention  of  this  State  in  1775  ? 
Have  they  not  from  the  commencement  of  the  war  ap- 
plied to  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  for  assistance  and 
protection?  It  is  well  known  that  they  did,  and  that 
New  Hampshire,  at  their  own  expense,  hath  suppli- 
ed them  with  arms,  ammunition,  &c.,  to  a  very  great 
amount,  as  well  as  paid  soldiers  for  their  particular 
defence,  and  all  at  their  request,  as  members  of  this 
State.  Whence,  then,  could  this  new  doctrine,  that 
they  were  never  connected  with  us  originate  ?  I  ear- 
nestly desire  that  this  matter  may  be  seriously  attended 
to,  as  I  am  persuaded  that  the  tendency  thereof  will 
be  to  anarchy  and  confusion."  He  also  made  an  ap- 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  19 

peal  to  Congress  to  interpose  and  prevent,  if  possible, 
the  shedding  of  blood. 

The  movement  of  those  towns  received  no  more  en- 
couragement from  Congress  than  this  later  secession  is 
likely  to  receive  from  that  which  meets  to-day ;  but 
the  quarrel  was  not  an  easy  one  to  settle. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Assembly  of  Vermont, 
after  the  people  had  voted  to  receive  these  towns,  and 
the  delegates  from  this  side  had  taken  their  seats,  the 
question  arose,  whether  these  towns  should  be  erected 
into  a  separate  county.  This  was  refused,  whereupon 
the  delegates  again  seceded,  and  left  the  Vermont  As- 
sembly in  disgust.  Their  friends  on  this  side  of  the 
mountains,  bound  more  strongly  to  them  than  those  on 
the  other  side,  proposed  to  unite  with  them  to  form  a 
separate  State,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  to  be  called 
New  Connecticut.  Then  followed  a  series  of  conten- 
tions between  New  York,  Vermont,  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, which  I  cannot  now  stop  to  detail, — all  of  which 
were  finally  settled  by  the  admission  of  Vermont  with 
her  present  boundaries,  into  the  Confederacy  of  the 
United  States ;  a  settlement  which  was  hastened  by  the 
shrewd  policy  of  Ethan  and  Ira  Allen,  who  conferred 
with  the  British  authorities  in  Canada  and  elsewhere, 
as  if  they  desired  an  union  with  them. 

The  settlement  of  this  first  secession  was  signalized 
by  the  addition  of  the  first  new  star  to  the  old  thirteen 
on  our  glorious  national  banner.  May  the  settlement 
of  this  more  fearful  secession  of  1861  add  new  bril- 
liancy to  the  whole  constellation ! 

This  brief  outline  of  this  curious  strife,  I  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  give,  to  show  why  we  are  sons 


20  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

and  daughters  of  the  Granite  State,  rather  than  Green 
Mountain  boys  and  girls,  though  to  be  the  last  would 
be  no  less  an  honor. 

In  some  of  the  towns  concerned  in  this  contest, 
great  disorders  prevailed,  every  man  doing  what  was 
right  in  his  own  eyes.  But  not  so  here ;  the  laws  of 
Congress  and  the  statutes  of  Connecticut  were  made  the 
guide  of  their  action,  while  they  were  in  their  "  state 
of  nature."  At  the  first  breaking  out  of  the  revolu- 
tionary war,  a  "  committee  of  safety  "  was  appointed 
with  almost  absolute  powers.  At  a  meeting  held  here 
immediately  after  their  appointment,  in  connection 
with  committees  from  Hanover,  Plainfield,  Canaan, 
and  Grantham,  the  following  vote  was  passed :  "  That 
the  laws  of  our  country  ought  and  shall  be  the  rule 
of  our  procedure  in  judging  of  the  qualities  of  of- 
fences, and  punishing  the  same,  only  with  such  vari- 
ations as  the  different  channel  of  administration  re- 
quires." 

The  town  itself,  in  the  period  in  which  its  State 
connection  was  unsettled,  resolved  to  adopt  the  laws 
of  Connecticut,  and  maintain  them ;  and  so  they  did ; 
though  enforcing  for  a  while  the  statutes  of  Vermont. 
When,  at  length,  in  1786,  they  returned  to  their  alle- 
giance to  New  Hampshire,  like  honest  men,  as  they 
were,  they  paid  up  their  back  taxes  to  the  amount  of 
a  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

A  few  extracts  from  the  records,  omitting  names, 
will  show  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  their  style  of  do- 
ing business. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  held  August 
2,  1775,  "chose  Nehemiah  Estabrooks  chairman,  and 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  21 

John  Wheatley  clerk,  of  said  committee.  A.  B.  and 
C.  D.  appeared  before  said  committee,  and  were  exam- 
ined considering  their  laboring  on  the  20th  day  of  July 
last,  being  the  day  set  apart  by  the  Grand  American 
Congress,  for  public  fasting  and  prayer  throughout  the 
continent ;  when  the  above-named  persons  confessed 
their  fault,  and  being  admonished  to  a  better  conduct 
in  future,  which  they  engaged,  were  accordingly  dis- 
missed by  said  committee." 

"  Lebanon,  March  6,  1780.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
committee  of  safety  of  said  Lebanon,  appeared  E.  F., 
of  said  Lebanon,  to  answer  to  a  complaint  exhibited  to 
said  committee  against  said  E.  F.  for  sundry  crimes 
and  misdemeanors.  Whereupon  she,  the  said  E.  F., 
made  a  voluntary  confession  of  the  facts  laid  to  her 
charge  in  said  complaint,  viz :  striking  and  kicking, 
which  are  open  breaches  of  the  peace  of  the  good 
people  of  this  town.  Whereupon  said  committee  do 
award  that  she,  the  said  E.  F.,  pay  a  fine  of  two  dol- 
lars for  the  use  of  the  town,  and  the  costs  of  trial,  and 
stand  committed  till  this  judgment  be  satisfied." 

What  think  you  of  this?  "August,  11, 1779,  in  town 
meeting :  Voted  that  the  town  procure  three  gallons 
of  rum  for  the  people  that  shall  attend  to  raise  the 
bridge  over  the  Mascomy,  near  to  Capt.  Turner's." 
This  was  the  sole  business  done  at  that  meeting,  and 
it  was  enough. 

The  account  for  rum  and  brandy  for  building  the  last 
meeting-house,*  may  be  found  in  certain  old  account 
books,  now  in  Mr.  Kendrick's  store,  and  they  would 
astonish  the  present  generation. 

*  The  present  town  house. 


22  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

Another  singular  chapter  of  our  town  history  which 
illustrates  very  fully  the  independence,  not  to  say  the 
self-will  of  the  early  inhabitants,  pertains  to  the  build- 
ing of  meeting-houses. 

As  far  as  appears  from  the  records,  the  first  public 
action  on  the  subject  was  in  February,  1768.  Thence 
onward  for  four  years  and  a  half,  they  discussed,  and 
resolved,  and  re-resolved,  whether  they  would  build  or 
not ;  where  they  would  build,  and  how  large  the  house 
should  be.  In  just  about  a  dozen  diiferent  town  meet- 
ings this  subject  was  "  before  the  people."  They  first 
resolved  not  to  build.  Six  months  later  they  resolved 
to  build,  —  two  years  later  not  to  build,  —  three  weeks 
later  to  build.  The  size  of  the  house  was  first  to  be 
thirty  feet  square,  with  ten  feet  posts  ;  then  forty-eight 
by  thirty-four,  with  twenty  feet  posts  ;  then  again  forty 
by  thirty,  and  ten  feet  posts  ;  and  finally  forty-eight  by 
thirty-four,  and  ten  or  twelve  feet  posts. 

But  the  great  question  was  WHERE  the  house  should 
have  its  local  habitation.  The  strife  was  between  the 
claims  of  one  or  two  places  on  the  river  road,  and  sev- 
eral locations  near  Luther  Alden's.  At  first  it  was 
to  be  on  the  hill  near  the  old  graveyard ;  then  on  the 
river  road  a  little  south  of  West  Lebanon  depot ;  then 
again  on  the  hill,  then  in  the  clay  pits,  on  this  side 
of  the  Mascomy  ;  then  the  matter  was  entrusted  to  a 
committee  of  gentlemen  out  of  town,  who  seem  to  have 
fixed  upon  a  spot  farther  south,  near  Osgood's  Mills. 

At  one  time,  when  the  timber  for  the  house  had  been 
delivered  on  the  river  road,  a  company  of  men  appear- 
ed on  the  ground  with  teams  to  haul  it  away.  An  ap- 
peal, however,  from  their  youthful  pastor,  assuring 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  23 

them  that  he  could  not  consent  to  remain  among  them, 
unless  they  were  more  harmonious,  prevented  a  resort 
to  force. 

But  in  spite  of  committee  reports,  the  hills  were  des- 
tined to  prevail,  as  they  always  have,  over  the  plains 
and  the  clay-pits,  and  the  house  was  finally  built  on 
the  south  side  of  the  road,  near  Mr.  Luther  Alden's. 
This  first  controversy  was  settled  in  August,  1772,  just 
about  a  month  after  the  settlement  of  the  first  minister, 
Rev.  Mr.  Potter. 

For  about  eleven  years,  meeting-houses  had  rest. 
They  then  began  to  think  of  a  new  house.  The  major- 
ity of  the  inhabitants  were  in  the  southwest  part  of 
the  town,  and,  of  course,  wanted  the  house  near  them. 
Meanwhile  the  east  part  of  the  town  had  been  settled, 
and  therefore,  stout  and  determined  resistance  was 
made  against  such  a  location,  and  a  central  position 
demanded. 

The  strife  went  on  for  seven  or  eight  years,  at  times 
with  no  little  bitterness.  In  the  course  of  the  contro- 
versy, the  old  house  was  taken  down  by  a  mob,  the 
only  one  I  recollect  to  have  heard  of  in  the  history  of 
the  town.*  A  company  of  young  men,  headed  by  one 
"  Captain  Stubbs,"  alias  Comfort  Allen,  gathered  in 
the  night,  and  proceeded  quietly  to  remove  the  bone  of 
contention,  and  before  the  morning  light  the  house  of 
worship  was  levelled  to  the  ground.  The  timber  was 
bought  by  private  persons,  and  the  house  rebuilt  on 
the  hill,  near  the  residence  of  Mr.  Ziba  Storrs,  and 
continued  to  be  used  for  meetings  for  several  years. 

*  There  was  one  other,  when  they  were  in  their  "  state  of  nature."    D. 


24  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

The  fathers  and  mothers  of  some  of  us  used  to  ride  on 
horseback,  and  in  ox-carts  from  the  extreme  northeast 
part  of  the  town,  to  that  house  ;  verily,  a  pretty  long 
sabbath  day's  journey,  and,  we  should  think  a  pretty 
hard  sabbath  day's  work.*  A  portion  of  the  people 
refused  to  go  there,  and  were  accustomed  to  meet  in 
the  house  of  Mr.  Robert  Colburn,  which  stood  near 
Mr.  Carter's  residence. 

The  contending  forces  at  length  drew  nearer  togeth- 
er, the  south  and  west  of  the  town  fixing  upon  a  spot 
near  Mr.  Peck's,  good  old  Deacon  Porter  affirming, 
stoutly,  that  he  would  never  come  any  farther.  The 
east  and  north  insisted  still  on  the  centre.  How  long 
the  strife  would  have  lasted  if  nothing  but  votes  had 
been  thrown  into  the  scale,  we  cannot  tell.  It  was 
finally  settled  by  a  proposition  of  Mr.  Colburn,  who 
owned  the  land  of  the  village,  and  who  came  forward, 
and  stuck  a  stake,  and  said,  "  If  you  will  build  the 
house  on  this  spot,  I  will  give  to  the  town  so  many 
acres  of  land  for  a  public  common."  The  proposition 
was  accepted,  the  house  was  built  about  1792,  and 
stood  undisturbed  until  1850,  when  the  improved  taste 
of  the  present  inhabitants  called  for  removal  to  its 
present  location. f 


*  We  shall  understand  the  length  of  the  journey  better  if  we  keep  in  mind 
the  fact  that  there  was  then  no  bridges  east  of  this  village  —  none  in  it ;  the 
bridge  near  Mr.  Robert  Gates'  had  not  been  built,  and  the  Mascoma  could 
only  be  passed  in  the  vicinity  of  the  bridge,  near  Mr.  Luther  Alden's.  D. 

t  A  curious  testimony  of  the  earnestness  and  obstinacy  of  this  strife,  ought 
not  to  be  lost.  November  22,  1792,  the  town  voted  "  that  a  committee  of  dis- 
interested persons  should  be  chosen  to  determine  a  central  spot  for  a  meeting- 
house ;  which  committee  should  consider  the  travel  as  it  respects  quality  and 
quantity,  and  actually  measure  to  find  the  same,  and  say  in  justice  where  it 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  25 

The  law  authorizing  towns  to  assess  taxes  for  build- 
ing meeting-houses  and  supporting  ministers  gradually 
became  unpopular  throughout  the  State,  and  in  1819 
was  set  aside  by  what  is  known  as  the  Toleration  Act. 
Erom  that  time  each  denomination  was  thrown  upon 
its  own  resources  for  support. 

The  town  owned  the  meeting-house,  and  for  a  while 
apportioned  the  use  of  it  among  the  different  denomi- 
nations, till,  one  by  one,  they  were  able  to  provide  for 
themselves.  As  the  result  we  have  several  neat  and 
convenient  houses  of  worship,  in  which  all  are  per- 
mitted to  worship  in  quietness,  according  to  their  local 
convenience  and  religious  preference  ;  several  different 
denominations  uniting  cheerfully  in  this  celebration. 

In  respect  to  the  personal  notices  which  the  occasion 
demands,  I  am  constrained  to  regret  that  my  time  has 
not  permitted  me  to  visit  the  representatives  of  all  the 
early  settlers,  to  gather  up  their  recollections  of  their 
fathers  and  mothers,  and  explore  their  family  records 
in  their  old  family  Bibles  ;  to  examine  also  the  old 
town  and  church  records,  and  combining  all,  be  able 

ought  to  be  erected,  upon  the  consideration  of  every  circumstance  of  the  pres- 
ent and  future  inhabitants  of  the  town." 

The  following  is  the  report  of  that  committee  :  "In  the  first  place,  we  cal- 
culated the  soul  travel  to  the  new  meetinghouse  ;  and  secondly,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  lane,  between  Mr.  James  Jones,  and  Mr.  Nathaniel  Storrs ;  and  found 
that  there  was  215  miles  and  29  rods  less  soul  travel  to  said  lane  than  to  the 
new  meetinghouse.  Likewise  we  found  the  land  travel  to  the  aforesaid  spots 
to  be  37  miles  and  246  rods  less  travel  to  the  new  meetinghouse,  reckoning 
one  travel  from  each  habitable  one  hundred  acre  lot.  Likewise  we  found  it  to 
be  52  miles  and  303  rods  more  land  travel  to  Mr.  Peck's  than  to  the  new 
meetinghouse." 

The  mysteries  couched  under  "soul"  and  "land  travel"  are  left  for  solu- 
tion to  the  curious  reader.  —  D. 
4 


26         *  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

to  present  you,  to-day,  a  brief  history  of  the  internal 
life  of  the  settlement,  at  least  in  all  the  first  half  of  the 
century.  The  kindness  of  Rev.  Mr.  Downs,  in  grant- 
ing me  the  use  of  his  carefully  prepared  statistics,  en- 
ables me  to  add  very  considerably  to  what  I  have  had 
the  means  of  gathering  myself. 

Four  persons,  I  have  already  remarked,  spent  the 
second  winter  here.  Their  camp  was  not  far  from  the 
mouth  of  White  River.  The  names  of  three  are  known, 
Levi  Hyde,  Samuel  Estabrooks,  and  William  Dana. 

July  11,  1763,  William  Downer  with  his  wife  and 
eight  children  arrived ;  this  was  the  first  family,  and 
Mrs.  Downer  the  first  woman  who  spent  a  night  in 
town. 

In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  came  Oliver  Davidson, 
Elijah  Dewey,  James  Jones,  and  their  families.  Mr. 
Davidson  built  the  first  dam  across  the  Mascomy.  His 
was  the  first  death,  for  him  the  first  grave  was  opened 
in  the  new  settlement. 

The  following  may  be  added  as  among  the  first  set- 
tlers. Nathaniel  Porter,  Asa  Kilbourne,  Samuel  Mea- 
cham,  Joseph  Dana,  Jonathan  Dana,  Huckin  Storrs, 
Silas  Waterman,  Jedediah  Hebard,  Jesse  Cooke,  Zal- 
mon  Aspenwall,  Joseph  Wood,  James  Hartshorn,  and 
Nathaniel  Storrs. 

The  first  male  child  born  in  the  town  it  is  said  was 
Thomas  Waterman,  born  July  11,  1766.  On  the  rec- 
ords, however,  we  find  the  following  :  u  Roger  Heb- 
bard,  son  of  Jedediah  Hebbard,  born  August  13,  1764," 
and  at  a  later  date,  Roger  Hebbard  married  to  Sarah 
Stickney,  March  19,  1786.  Whether  Roger  Hebbard 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  27 

was  born  here,  the  record  does  not  state,*  but  seems  to 
imply  that  he  was. 

The  first  female  child  born  in  town  was  Sarah  Jones, 
daughter  of  James  Jones,  who  was  born  December  22, 
1764. 

The  first  minister  of  the  gospel  in  the  town  seems 
to  have  been  a  Mr.  Treadway.  On  the  records  of  the 
town,  under  date  of  August  25,  1766,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  Whether  the  town  will  choose  a  committee 
to  treat  with  Mr.  Treadway,  now  resident  among  us, 
in  order  to  his  steady  administration  in  the  gospel  min- 
istry, in  the  said  town.  Resolved  in  the  affirmative  ; 
and  chose  John  Wheatley,  Charles  Hill,  and  Joseph 
Dana  to  be  a  committee  for  the  purpose  aforesaid." 

Mr.  Treadway  seems  to  have  preached  here  a  few 
months,  but  not  to  have  been  invited  to  settle  here. 
The  first  "  call "  was  given  to  a  Mr.  Wales,  to  whom  I 
have  already  referred,  but  something  in  his  reply  dis- 
pleased the  people,  and  induced  them  to  reconsider  the 
call. 

Soon  after,  Rev.  Isaiah  Potter,  then  a  young  man  about 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  was  invited  to  visit  the  place 
as  a  candidate  for  settlement.  He  came  and  spent  the 
summer  of  1771,  and  was  invited  to  return  the  follow- 
ing spring.  He  did  so,  and,  after  a  few  months,  was 
called  with  entire  unanimity  to  be  the  settled  minister 
of  the  town.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  on  the  25th  of 
August,  1772,  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the 
church.  The  ordination  took  place  in  the  open  air, 
under  an  elm  still  standing  on  the  banks  of  the  Con- 

*  The  probability  is  that  he  was  born  in  Connecticut,  but  for  convenience  the 
record  was  made  here.  —  D. 


28  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

necticut,  a  little  south  of  West  Lebanon  depot,  Rev. 
Mr.  Olcutt,  of  Charleston,  preaching  the  ordination 
sermon.  It  is  a  significant  indication  of  the  customs 
of  the  times,  and  an  evidence  of  the  fidelity  of  the 
youthful  pastor,  that,  at  the  close  of  the  exercises,  he 
exhorted  his  flock,  especially  the  young  people,  to  re- 
frain from  dancing,  and  all  other  vain  amusements. 

By  virtue  of  being  the  first  settled  minister  of  the 
town,  Mr.  Potter  came  into  possession  of  one  share  of 
the  land,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  charter.  The 
proprietors  of  the  land  had  also  agreed  to  appropriate 
£62  as  a  "  settlement"  for  the  first  minister,  to  which 
the  town  added,  by  vote,  £38,  making  his  settlement 
£100.  or  about  $500.  In  addition,  his  salary  was  £50 
a  year,  for  two  years,  with  an  annual  increase  thereafter 
till  it  should  reach  £80  per  annum. 

One  of  the  considerations  which  induced  Mr.  Pot- 
ter to  settle  here,  was  the  fact  that  Dr.  Wheelock  had 
already  located  the  college  at  Hanover.  His  first  visit 
to  this  town  was  but  a  short  time  before  the  removal  of 
Dr.  Wheelock  and  his  family,  and  students.  He  and 
his  neighbors  turned  out  to  help  them,  as  they  worked 
their  way  over  the  logs  and  stumps  of  the  rough  horse- 
oad  from  Charleston  to  Hanover. 

Mr.  Potter  was  a  great  admirer  of  his  more  learned 
and  experienced  father,  on  Hanover  Plain.  They  were 
warm  friends  and  mutual  helpers.  In  full  sympathy 
with  him  in  theological  sentiments,  and  those  views 
of  revivals  of  religion,  which  were  then  called  "  New- 
light,"  Mr.  Potter's  labors,  like  those  of  his  neighbor, 
were  attended  with  revivals  of  great  power. 

For  the  first  few  years  of  his  ministry,  his  work  was 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  29 

much  interrupted  by  the  revolutionary  war.  Respond- 
ing cheerfully  to  the  calls  of  his  country,  he  became 
chaplain  of  one  of  the  New  Hampshire  regiments,  and 
for  a  season  followed  the  fortunes  of  a  soldier. 

He  was  in  the  army  under  General  Gates,  in  that 
darkest  hour  of  the  night  of  the  Revolution,  which 
preceded  the  break  of  day,  in  the  surrender  of  Bur- 
goyne  and  his  northern  army.  Before  the  last  decisive 
battle,  the  young  chaplain  rode  out  in  front  of  the 
army,  and  with  uncovered  head,  a  fair  and  lofty  mark 
for  the  enemy's  bullets,  lifted  up  the  voice  of  prayer  to 
that  God  in  whom  our  fathers  put  their  trust. 

Having  witnessed  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  he 
soon  after  returned  to  this  more  quiet  field  of  his  life's 
work,  confident  that  American  freedom  would  soon  be 
secured. 

There  were  giants  in  those  days,  and  Mr.  Potter  was 
one  of  them,  being  six  feet  and  two  inches  in  height, 
and  of  corresponding  physical  strength.  '•  In  mental 
abilities  he  rose  above  the  average  ;  sound  in  doctrine, 
logical  in  his  discourse,  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,"  quot- 
ing them  freely  from  memory,  a  method,  which  by  the 
failure  of  his  sight,  in  his  later  years  became  a  neces- 
sity, adding  frequently  the  modest  caveat,  "  if  I  right- 
ly recollect."  Those  of  you  of  my  own  age  can  just 
remember  the  venerable  old  man,  as  he  stood  calmly 
under  the  old  sounding-board,  which  we  feared  would 
some  day  fall  upon  his  head,  and  talked  to  us  of  heaven- 
ly things.  What  he  said  we  do  not  so  well  remember. 
His  descendants,*  among  whom  I  am  happy  to  number 

*  John  M.  Potter,  member  of  Congress  from  Wisconsin,  is  a  grandson. 


30  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

my  own  children,  have  several  of  his  manuscript  ser- 
mons written  on  paper  which  reminds  one  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  in  characters  as  small,  and  with  abbreviations 
as  numerous  as  are  the  old  editions  of  Homer's  Iliad. 
Mr.  Potter  died  July  2, 1817,  having  been  pastor  of  the 
church  about  forty-five  years. 

His  successors,  Mr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Cooke,  were 
both,  like  him,  of  the  order  of  high  priests,  both  being 
over  six  feet  in  height.  The  present  ministers  of  Leb- 
anon, we  presume,  make  up  in  quality  what  is  lacking 
in  quantity. 

Among  the  early  settlers,  no  one  is  more  worthy  of 
special  notice  than  John  Wheatley.  An  Irish  boy,  he 
emigrated  to  this  country,  and  was  sold  to  pay  his  pas- 
sage. Falling  into  the  hands  of  a  kind  man,  in  Con- 
necticut, who  discovered  and  appreciated  his  superior 
talents,  he  received  as  good  an  education  as  the  schools 
of  the  neighborhood  could  give,  and  when  this  town 
was  settled  he  removed  hither  with  his  family,  to  share 
the  toils  and  sufferings  of  a  new  country.  He  was  the 
first  town  clerk,  the  first  schoolmaster,  the  first  civil 
magistrate,  holding  the  office  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
and  the  first  representative  to  the  legislature  of  the 
State.*  An  upright  citizen,  a  sterling  patriot,  and  a 

*  So  the  popular  tradition  runs.  The  records,  however,  do  not  sustain  it. 
Mr.  Wheatley  was  Proprietor's  Clerk.  Silas  Waterman  was  certainly  the 
first  town  cleric,  holding  the  office  eleven  years.  Mr.  Wheatley  was  not  only  not 
the  first  representative,  but  never  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature  of 
New  Hampshire.  He  once  took  his  seat  in  company  with  Hon.  E.  Payne,  in 
the  Assembly  of  Vermont.  He  was  also  chosen  as  a  delegate  from  this  town, 
to  the  convention  which  formed  the  Constitution,  but  by  vote  of  the  town  was 
recalled,  not  however  from  any  fault  of  his.  According  to  the  records.,  the 
honor  of  being  the  first  representative  in  the  State  legislature  unquestionably 
belongs  to  Col.  Elisha  Payne,  elected  March,  1784.  —  D. 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  31 

consistent  Christian,  he  lived  and  died  an  honor  to 
the  town  and  the  State.  His  grave  should  not  be  left 
neglected,  and  his  gravestones  broken  down. 

Three  of  his  sons  were  in  the  Continental  army,  one 
of  whom,  Luther,  fell,  mortally  wounded  in  the  Battle 
of  Stillwater. 

The  name  of  Estabrooks  is  prominent  among  the 
original  inhabitants  of  the  town.  And  whatever  may 
be  said  of  those  who  came  after  them,  it  may  be  said 
of  them,  as  the  Bible  says  of  the  heroes  of  David's 
army,  "  they  attained  not  unto  the  first  three  "  —  Sam- 
uel Estabrooks,  William  Dana,  Levi  Hyde.  Samuel  of 
the  "  first  three,"  Nehemiah  also  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety  during  the  period  that  tried  men's 
souls,  the  steadfast  and  fearless  defenders  of  liberty, 
and  supporters  of  religion,  they  have  left  a  line  of 
worthy  descendants,  who  have  kept  the  name  in  fra- 
grance among  us.  Two  were  graduates  of  Dartmouth 
College  ;  one  of  whom,  Joseph  Estabrooks,  was  the 
President,  for  many  years,  of  the  East  Tennessee  Uni- 
versity. His  influence  is  felt  to-day  in  the  loyalty  of 
that  portion  of  a  seceded  State. 

Of  Nehemiah  Estabrooks,  the  following  account  has 
been  furnished :  — 

"  Nehemiah  Estabrooks,  the  son  of  Deacon  Nehemiah 
Estabrooks,  born  in  Hebron,  Conn.,  came  early  in  its 
first  settlement,  into  Lebanon.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Slapp,  daughter  of  Major  John  Slapp,  who  held  a  ma- 
jor's commission  in  the  French  war,  and  in  the  Revo- 
lution was  an  active  and  efficient  officer.  Nehemiah, 
hearing  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  in  the  afternoon, 
by  the  sleepless  energy  of  his  wife,  he  was  ready  at 


32  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

sunrise  the  next  morning  to  take  leave  of  home  and 
family,  and  shoulder  his  musket  in  defence  of  his 
country.  He  was  in  active  service  from  that  morning 
till  the  close  of  the  war,  with  the  exception  of  a  fur- 
lough of  two  months,  during  which  time  he  visited  his 
home.  He  was  nearly  all  the  time  under  the  immedi- 
ate command  of  Washington,  being  one  of  his  famous 
body-guard.  He  returned  poor,  having  received  Con- 
tinental money  for  his  pay,  fifty  dollars  of  which  he 
paid  for  a  breakfast  on  his  way  home.  His  brother 
Joseph  died  in  the  service. 

"  Nehemiah,  in  1808  or  1809,  removed  to  what  was 
then  known  as  the  Holland  Purchase,  in  New  York. 
On  receiving  intelligence  of  the  burning  of  Black  Rock 
by  the  British  forces,  he  mustered  a  company  of  his 
neighbors  and  marched  to  that  place.  Arriving  just  as 
the  last  boat  was  leaving  the  shore  for  the  Canada  side, 
he  drew  up  his  men,  and  they  gave  the  'Bed  Coats'  the 
contents  of  their  muskets."  * 

The  Danas  also  rise  up  before  us.f  William,  one 
of  the  "  first  three,"  whose  keen  eye  first  detected  the 
worth  of  these  lands ;  Joseph,  the  first  deacon  of  the 
church,  and  Jonathan,  his  successor.  Among  the  de- 
scendants of  William  is  the  Rev.  E.  L.  Magoon,  D.  D., 

*  Furnished  by  Dr.  A.  Smalley,  a  descendant. 

f  Capt.  William  Dana,  an  officer  in  the  French  war,  and  for  seven  years  in 
the  Revolution,  wintered  with  Washington  at  Valley  Forge.  He  was  the  first 
man  to  cut  a  stick  of  timber;  plant  a  hill  of  potatoes  or  corn  in  the  town.  He 
also  held  the  first  charter  for  a  ferry  across  the  Connecticut.  In  addition  to 
other  excellencies,  he  was  a  true  Christian.  Before  any  minister  was  resi- 
dent in  the  town,  he  officiated  at  funerals.  On  one  occasion  two  men  came 
from  Orford,  for  him  to  go  there  to  make  a  prayer  at  the  funeral  of  a  man 
who  had  died  there.  For  these  facts  I  am  indebted  to  a  letter  written  by  his 
youngest  daughter,  Mrs.  Fanny  Cochran,  now  living  in  Pembroke,  N.  H.  —  D. 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  33 

pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  whom  we 
had  hoped  to  see  here  to-day.  A  bricklayer  by  trade, 
he  worked  his  way  to  an  education  by  the  help  of  his 
trowel.  An  eloquent  preacher,  a  popular  speaker,  the 
author  of  more  books  than  all  the  rest  of  Lebanon  to- 
gether. 

The  remaining  name  of  the  first  three  is  Levi  Hyde, 
largely  employed  as  a  surveyor  in  laying  out  the  roads 
and  farms  of  the  town.  "  Old  'Squire  Hyde,"  is  a  name 
familiar  to  the  older  portion  of  the  town,  as  a  standing 
authority  in  all  matters  of  law,  order,  and  town  his- 
tory. 

In  the  list  of  early  settlers  my  eye  is  arrested  by  the 
name  of  Joseph  Wood,  whose  descendants  constitute 
an  extensive  forest,  and  are  "  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion." 

Two  of  them,  however,  must  not  be  passed  unno- 
ticed. Rev.  Samuel  Wood,  D.  D.,  long  pastor  of  the 
church  in  Boscawen,  came  to  this  town  with  his  father 
when  quite  a  lad,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in 
1779,  and  settled  in  Boscawen  in  1781,  where  he  re- 
mained till  his  death,  in  1836,  at  the  age  of  84. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  in  New  Hampshire  ex- 
erted a  wider  influence  for  good,  during  his  life,  than 
he.  Besides  all  the  labors  of  a  responsible  pastoral 
office,  and  of  many  public  trusts,  all  of  which  he  per- 
formed with  great  ability  and  faithfulness,  he  fitted  for 
college,  in  his  own  house,  more  than  a  hundred  young 
men,  among  whom  are  some  of  the  most  honored  names 
in  our  State  and  nation.  It  is  enough  to  mention  Dan- 
iel and  Ezekiel  Webster. 

That  venerable   centennarian,  whose  grave  is   still 


34  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

fresh  among  you,  was  the  second  brother  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Wood.  Captain  Joseph  Wood  was  about  seven  years 
old  when  his  father  came  to  this  town.  His  whole  life 
has  been  a  part  of  its  history.  Pursuing  the  quiet  and 
honorable  calling  of  a  farmer,  of  excellent  judgment  in 
all  practical  affairs,  energetic,  he  accumulated  a  hand- 
some property,  which  he  well  knew  how  to  use  for 
good.  The  Congregational  Church  in  Lebanon,  the 
church  and  seminary  in  West  Lebanon,  have  reason 
long  to  cherish  the  memory  of  his  generosity,  of  his 
wisdom  in  counsel,  of  his  solid  virtues.  A  good  man, 
rich  in  faith  and  in  good  works,  he  died  full  of  years 
and  honors.  Of  his  younger  brother,  Benjamin,  long 
the  faithful  and  honored  pastor  of  the  church  in  Upton, 
Mass.,  I  have  not  time  to  speak. 

Nathaniel  Porter,  whose  wife,  Martha,  was  the  only 
other  person  in  the  town  whose  age  has  reached  100, 
is  known  to  me  chiefly  through  his  son  and  grandson, 
whom  we  used  to  call  the  Old  Deacon  and  the  Young 
Deacon  Porter,  both  of  whom  have  long  since  gone  to 
their  rest.  Old  Deacon  Porter  has  left  his  monument 
among  you  in  yonder  church  edifice  and  the  parsonage 
connected  with  it.  Strong,  thick-set,  resolute,  nearly 
obstinate  upon  occasion,  his  large  head  represented, 
and  guided  a  larger  heart.  His  few  words,  somewhat 
stammering,  were  full  of  meaning  and  of  force.  His 
daily  prayer  was,  that  he  might  not  outlive  his  useful- 
ness ;  and  that  prayer  was  heard.  He  returned  home 
from  church  on  the  Sabbath,  sat  down  in  his  chair,  and 
quietly  died. 

Of  Zuar  Eldridge  we  have  this  record,  in  connection 
with  the  revolutionary  war :  He  sailed  in  a  privateer, 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  85 

was  captured,  imprisoned,  was  finally  released,  worn 
down  by  disease  and  confinement,  and  was  nursed  by 
Diarca  Allen. 

Rev.  Walter  Harris,  D.  D.,  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  eloquent  divines  of  New  Hampshire,  in  his  youth 
a  musician  in  Washington's  army,  long  the  honored, 
judicious,  and  faithful  pastor  of  the  church  in  Dun- 
barton,  should  be  held  in  remembrance  as  one  of  the 
noblest  sons  of  Lebanon. 

Hon.  Elisha  Payne  was  a  prominent  actor  in  the 
affairs  of  the  town,  at  a  little  later  day.  At  the  time 
of  the  conflict  between  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
as  to  jurisdiction  over  the  sixteen  towns,  he  was  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  of  Vermont,  and  was  authorized  by 
the  legislature  of  that  State  to  raise  a  military  force  to 
resist  the  threatened  invasion  of  this  State.  He  after- 
wards removed  to  Orange,  N.  H.,  and  while  there  re- 
ceived from  this  town  an  offer  of  a  tract  of  land,  at  the 
outlet  of  Enfield  Pond,  provided  he  would  settle  there 
and  erect  mills ;  which  offer  he  accepted.  The  mills 
there  were  long  known  as  Payne's  Mills. 

At  one  time  he  made  an  effort  to  form  a  new  town- 
ship from  parts  of  Lebanon,  Enfield,  and  Canaan,  of 
which  East  Lebanon  should  be  the  centre  ;  but  the  at- 
tempt failed.  He  was  a  man  of  intellect,  intelligence, 
and  energy.  He  held  many  important  offices,  both  in 
town  and  State.  He  was  the  builder  of  the  chapel  of 
Dartmouth  College. 

And  what  shall  I  say  more  ?  Time  would  fail  me  to 
speak  of  the  Storrses,  the  Huntingtons,  the  Water- 
mans,  the  Hebbards,  the  Downers,  and  the  Aspenwalls 


36  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

in  that  honored  list  of  the  first  settlers.  They  are  all 
familiar  and  worthy  names. 

Coming  down  the  century  a  generation  or  more,  my 
eye  rests  upon  David  Hough,  once  a  representative  in 
Congress,  and  others  of  the  same  name ;  upon  Colonel 
Storrs,  and  Captain  Sluman  Lathrop,  who  to  my  youth- 
ful vision  stood  up  among  the  "  Sons  of  Anak  "  ;  upon 
Barnabas  Fay,  whose  representative  you  are  getting 
impatient  to  hear ;  upon  Tildens,  a  name  immortalized 
by  yonder  beautiful  seminary  overlooking  the  valleys 
of  the  Connecticut  and  White  River ;  upon  Ticknors,* 
whom  the  title-pages  of  not  a  few  American  books  will 
keep  in  remembrance  ;  the  Bakers,  Bentons,  Durkees, 
Aldens,  Blodgetts  ;  upon  the  Halls,  the  descendants  of 
one  of  whom — Captain  Nathaniel  Hall — have  adorned 
the  three  professions,  —  Law,  Medicine,  and  Divinity. 
There  is  a  multitude,  besides,  whose  very  names  I  can- 
not stop  to  repeat. 

There  are  two  characters  of  this  period,  so  promi- 
nent in  my  view  that  I  must  be  excused  for  naming 
them.  They  were  brothers-in-law,  the  one  a  farmer, 
the  other  a  merchant ;  both  short  and  stout,  with  pretty 
capacious  brains.  Each  thought  and  acted  for  himself, 
—  and  they  generally  thought  and  acted  very  much 
alike,  except  in  politics ;  one  was  a  strong  Democrat, 
the  other  as  strong  a  Federalist.  They  were  often  se- 

*  Lebanon  claims  William  I).  Ticknor,  the  well-known  publisher,  of  Boston. 
Another  of  the  name  should  have  more  than  a  passing  notice.  His  merits 
cannot  be  better  told  than  in  the  following  sentiment,  furnished  by  Robert 
Kimball,  Esq. :  "  To  the  memory  of  Deacon  Elisha  Ticknor,  — the  Jason  who 
found  for  us  the  golden  fleece,  —  the  first  to  introduce  the  rearing  of  Merino 
sheep,  in  the  town,  for  which  the  town  is  largely  indebted  for  its  pros- 
perity." 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  37 

lectmen  at  the  same  time,  and  had  occasion  to  test  their 
personal  friendship  in  the  fiercest  political  strife.  They 
lived  and  died,  however,  true  friends,  and  alike  respect- 
ed and  beloved,  as  honest  and  true  men.  Their  names 
were  Diarca  Allen  and  Stephen  Kendrick.*  Their  de- 
scendants must  speak  for  themselves. 

Among  physicians  who  have  been  largely  identi- 
fied with  our  history,  the  name  of  Phineas  Parkhurst  is 
prominent,  whom  many  of  us  well  remember.  His  life 
in  Lebanon  dates  back  to  1780.  The  burning  of  Roy- 
alton,  Vt.,  by  the  Indians  —  one  of  the  sad  scenes  of 
the  revolutionary  war  —  brought  him  here  as  a  mes- 
senger of  alarm.  When  the  intelligence  that  the  In- 
dians were  approaching  the  town  reached  his  father's 
house,  Parkhurst,  then  but  a  youth,  mounted  his  horse 


*  The  annotator,  free  from  the  restraints  which  bound  Dr.  Allen,  may  add 
somewhat  to  the  notice  of  these  men.  Diarca  Allen  was  in  his  youth  a  sol- 
dier with  his  brother  Phineas,  in  the  revolutionary  army.  The  older  people 
of  the  town  will  remember  the  attachment  between  these  brothers,  while  in 
the  army,  and  the  stories  told  of  their  frequent,  earnest  inquiry,  "  Seen  any- 
thing of  Ark.  ?  "  "  Seen  anything  of  Phin,  ?  "  Diarca  Allen  was  prominent  in 
town  affairs,  a  successful  farmer,  an  honest  man,  a  wise  counsellor,  a  friend 
to  the  poor  in  a  quiet  way,  —  the  father  of  seven  sons  and  one  daughter,  all 
yet  living,  —  all  honored  and  useful.  In  his  old  age,  as  I  knew  him,  content- 
ed, genial,  not  without  humor,  not  often  second  in  a  trial  of  wit,  abounding  in 
stories  of  old  times,  cherished  and  honored  by  his  children,  in  simple  Christian 
faith  awaiting  his  call  to  go  up  higher.  He  died  in  1850,  aged  89. 

Stephen  Kendrick,  the  successful  merchant,  scrupulously  honest,  accurate 
in  all  business  affairs,  and  as  capable  as  honest,  for  many  years  a  town  clerk, 
the  most  accurate  and  painstaking  of  them  all,  —  it  is  a  pleasure  to  consult  the 
records  made  by  him.  Always  of  uncompromising  morality,  —  in  his  later 
years  an  humble,  devout  Christian  ;  religion  had  no  better  friend  than  he,  the 
church  no  firmer  pillar.  He  attained  not  the  good  old  age  of  his  friend,  but 
was  called  suddenly  away  in  the  midst  of  his  years  and  usefulness,  in  1834, 
aged  G4.  His  children,  like  those  of  his  friend,  have  been  useful  and  honored. 
One  is  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  West  Point,  another  a  professor  in  Marietta 
College,  Ohio.  — D. 


38  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

and  rode  with  all  possible  speed  through  the  neighbor- 
hood, giving  the  alarm.  As  he  was  endeavoring  to  es- 
cape, he  was  shot  in  the  back,  the  ball  passing  through 
the  body  and  lodging  in  the  skin  in  front.  Holding  the 
ball  in  his  fingers,  he  pursued  his  way  down  the  river, 
arousing  the  inhabitants  by  that  terrific  cry,  "  The 
Indians  are  coming ! "  not  stopping  to  rest  till  he  had 
crossed  the  Connecticut.  The  wound  unfitted  him  for 
the  life  of  a  farmer,  and  he  chose  that  of  a  physician. 
He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Hall,  then  of  this  town, 
had  a  large  practice,  exerted  a  wide  influence,  accu- 
mulated a  handsome  property.  He  died  in  1844, 
aged  85. 

The  names  of  Richards,  Hall,  Partridge,  Flagg,  and 
Hubbard,  among  the  dead ;  of  Gallup  and  Plaistridge 
among  the  living,  completes  the  list  of  doctors  of  past 
generations  among  us. 

For  lawyers,  Lebanon  has  never  seemed  to  present  a 
very  inviting  field.  Whether  because  of  its  remoteness 
from  the  county-seat,  or  because  of  the  high  moral, 
and  consequent  peaceable  character  of  its  inhabitants, 
I  do  not  know.  Till  proof  to  the  contrary  is  furnished, 
we  may  assume  the  latter  reason. 

Hon.  Aaron  Hutchinson,  was  probably  the  first  who 
established  himself  in  town  as  a  lawyer.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College,  in  1770,  and  settled  here  about 
1780.  When  he  came  here,  there  were  but  three  law- 
yers in  all  Grafton  County.  He  lived  to  a  good  old 
age,  having  exerted  a  wide  influence  in  his  profession 
in  this  region. 

Samuel  Selden,  still  living  in  Michigan,  I  believe 
is  the  only  other  lawyer  of  early  times  whom  I  recol- 
lect. 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  39 

I  cannot  close  without  asking  you  to  drop  a  tear  to 
the  memory  of  two  or  three  of  my  own  age.  Of  the  liv- 
ing I  do  not  propose  to  speak,  though  there  are  names 
of  which  we  may  be  proud.  Of  the  dead,  though  well 
known  to  many  of  you,  I  may  speak. 

Story  Hebard  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1828, 
having  distinguished  himself  as  scholar  in  the  natural 
sciences.  Notwithstanding  a  strong  bias  to  these  stud- 
ies, he  sacrificed  it  to  his  desire  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  the  heathen.  In  1835  he  left  his  native  land  for- 
ever, and  went  forth  to  the  land  of  the  Bible,  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Cross.  His  scientific  knowledge,  in  ad- 
dition to  all  his  other  labors,  enabled  him  to  furnish 
to  American  journals  of  science  some  of  the  most  val- 
uable papers  to  be  found  upon  the  geology  and  botany 
of  the  Holy  Land.  He  died,  much  lamented,  in  1841, 
and  his  body  rests  in  foreign  soil,  on  the  Island  of 
Malta. 

Ira  Young  was  born  a  mathematician,  and  as  such 
was  known  among  us  in  his  early  life,  and  when  teach- 
ing in  our  district  schools.  At  the  age  of  22,  having 
previously  wrought  as  a  house  carpenter,  he  began  to  fit 
for  college,  and  in  a  little  more  than  a  year  completed 
his  preparation.  He  took  his  stand  in  college  at  once, 
as  one  of  the  best  scholars,  of  one  of  the  best  classes 
ever  graduated  at  Dartmouth,  commanding  especially 
the  admiration  of  the  venerable  Professor  of  Mathe- 
matics, whose  chair  he  was  called  to  fill  soon  after  leav- 
ing college.  Dartmouth  never  had  a  professor  of  clear- 
er head,  and  greater  worth,  as  a  teacher  and  a  man, 
than  he.  He  died  1858,  in  the  midst  of  his  useful- 
ness, a  loss  to  the  college  and  the  community,  at  the 
age  of  57. 


40  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

Willis  Bliss,  the  beautiful  boy,  the  affectionate  and 
obedient  son  of  an  accomplished  and  early-widowed 
mother,  the  youth  of  high  toned  moral  character,  the 
truly  magnificent  scholar,  an  honor  to  the  Military 
School  of  West  Point,  than  whom  it  has  no  higher ; 
the  writer  of  those  unequalled  war  despatches  of  the 
old  hero,  Zachary  Taylor,  in  the  Mexican  war,  he  was 
cut  down  by  death,  just  as  the  eyes  of  the  nation  were 
beginning  to  turn  to  him  as  one  of  the  most  promising 
of  her  sons,  either  in  military  or  civil  life. 

The  century  over  which  we  have  thus  rapidly  glanc- 
ed has  been  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  cen- 
turies of  time.  It  has  been  emphatically  a  century  of 
progress  Inaugurated  by  the  revolutionary  war,  it 
includes  the  whole  of  what  history  will  record  as  the 
first  period  of  American  republican  government, — its 
period  of  sturdy,  vigorous  youth,  of  rapid  growth  in 
territory,  in  wealth,  in  learning,  in  religion,  in  short,  in 
all  the  elements  of  national  greatness.  It  closes  in  the 
midst  of  a  civil  war,  which  is  to  inaugurate  the  period 
of  its  ripened  manhood,  demonstrating  to  the  world 
that  a  government  founded  upon  the  will  of  an  intelli- 
gent and  God-fearing  people,  is  at  once  the  strongest 
and  happiest  government  on  earth,  and  sealing  with 
the  heart's  blood  of  the  children,  the  institutions  of 
liberty  for  which  the  fathers  suffered  and  died. 

The  period  of  old  age,  when  even  a  government  is 
ready  to  vanish  away,  will,  I  trust,  never  overtake  our 
nation ;  but  I  believe,  rather,  that  its  growing  bright- 
ness and  strength  will  at  length  be  lost  in  that  prophet- 
ic day,  when  every  nation  and  every  man  shall  be  free, 
and  all  men  everywhere  shall  enjoy  undisturbed  what 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE.  41 

the  Pilgrims  found  on  the  Rock  of  Plymouth,  "  Free- 
dom to  worship  God." 

Our  fathers  and  mothers  came  to  this  place,  in  ca- 
noes slowly  paddled  up  the  river,  on  foot,  and  on  horse- 
back, in  ox-carts,  and  on  ox-sleds*  —  toiling  through 
the  forest  at  the  rate  of  five  or  ten  miles  a  day.  We 
come  by  steam  at  the  rate  of  five  hundred.  They 
were  sent  forth  from  their  old  homesteads  with  prayers 
and  benedictions,  as  if  they  were  never  to  be  seen 
again.  Our  mothers,  youthful  brides  from  old  Con- 
necticut, stood  in  the  doors  of  their  log-cabins,  and 
wept,  as  they  looked  out  upon  the  almost  unbroken  for- 
ests about  them,  and  thought  of  those  left  behind  ;  and 
when  a  new  emigrant  arrived  in  the  neighborhood, 
he  came  loaded  with  a  precious  freight  of  letters,  some 
sad,  some  joyous,  from  those  of  whom  nothing  had 
been  heard  for  many  months.  We  take  up  our  "  dai- 
lies," and  read  what  but  yesterday  was  going  on  all 
over  the  land,  even  to  the  Pacific.  Such  changes  has 
the  passage  of  time  wrought. 

•They  bore  their  trials  nobly,  and  to-day  we  are  proud 
to  remember  them.  Are  we  proving  worthy  such  a 
parentage  ?  Are  we  worthy  the  richer  privileges  we 
enjoy?  Are  we,  with  all  our  advantages,  accomplish- 
ing as  much  for  the  world  as  they  have  done  before 
us? 

The  fathers  and  the  mothers,  —  where  are  they? 
We  must  seek  them  in  yonder  resting-place  for  the 

*  Mr.  John  Hebbard  has  still  in  good  preservation  portions  of  the  sled  upon 
which  his  ancestor  brought  to  this  town,  from  Connecticut,  his  family  and 
goods,  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  "three  year  olds." 
G 


42  HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 

dead,  and  other  like  sacred  spots.  We  have  met  to- 
day to  speak  of  their  memories — we  shall  part  to-day 
— and  never  all  meet  again  on  earth.  When  all  the 
centuries  are  over,  may  we  all  meet  in  our  FATHER'S 
HOUSE  ABOVE. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 
GKADUATES  FEOM  LEBANON. 

DARTMOUTH    COLLEGE. 


Experience  Estabrooks,  1776. 

Samuel  Wood,  1779. 

Ezekiel  Colburn,  1779. 

Elisha  Ticknor,  1783. 

Elisha  Payne,  1784. 

Elijah  Lyman,  1787. 

Walter  Harris,  1787. 

John  Griswold,  1789. 

Nathaniel  Hall,  1790. 

Zenas  Payne,  1790. 

John  Walbridge,  1791. 

Silas  Waterman,  1792. 

Benjamin  Wood,  1793. 

Isaiah  Waters,  1793. 

Ira  Hall,  1793. 

William  Dana,  1794. 

Barrett  Potter,  1796. 

Nathaniel  Storrs,  1796. 

Joseph  Peck,  1800. 

Lemuel  Bliss,  1801. 

Nehemiah  Huntington,  1803. 

Experience  Porter,  1803. 

John  Porter,  1803. 

Luther  Storrs,  1803. 

Samuel  W.  Phelps,  1803. 

Henry  Hutchinson,  1804. 


Phineas  Parkhurst,  1 805. 

James  Hutchinson,  1806. 

John  Porter,  1806. 

Thomas  Hardy,  1807. 

Jabez  Peck,  1807. 

Constant  Storrs,  1807. 

Samuel  Wood  Colburn,  1808. 

Daniel  Hough,  1812. 
Experience  Porter  Storrs,       1813. 

Joseph  Estabrooks,  1815. 

Amos  Wood,  1815. 

John  Kendrick,  1826. 

Ira  Young,  1828. 

D.  H.  Allen,  1829. 

Benjamin  Ela,  1831. 

George  Cooke,  1832. 

Richard  B.  Kimball,  1834. 

Aldace  Walker,  1837. 

Phineas  Cooke,  1843. 

Harvey  C.  Wood,  1844. 

J.  J.  Blaisdell,  1846. 

Benjamin  E.  Gallup,  1847. 

Henry  Allen,  1849. 

Elias  H.  Richardson,  1850. 

Samuel  W.  Dana,  1854. 
D.  A.  Dickinson, 


44  APPENDIX. 

AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

Story  Hebard 1828. 

NORWICH    UNIVERSITY. 

Cyrus  H.  Fay. 

WEST    POINT. 

Willis  Bliss,  1834.  [Henry  Kendrick,  183,5. 

James  G.  Benton. 

PHYSICIANS    NOT    GRADUATES    OF    COLLEGE. 


Waterman  Dewey, 
Sylvanus  Martin, 
Wm.  Gallup, 
Daniel  Dustin, 
Harry  Allen, 
Constant  Abbott, 
Benjamin  T.  Hubbard, 


Alvin  Ford, 
Charles  H.  Cleaveland, 
John  Liscomb, 
Sylvanus  Dewey, 
Adoniram  Smalley, 
Sylvester  Ford, 
Wm.  D.  Buck. 


CLERGYMEN    NOT    GRADUATES    OF    COLLEGE. 


Luther  Wood, 
John  Waters, 
George  Storrs, 
Eeuben  Mason, 


John  Lothrop, 
Colbee  Hardy, 
Daniel  Hardy. 


In  preparing  this  list,  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  the  tenacious  and 
accurate  memory  of  Thomas  Potter,  Esq.  D. 

No.  II. 

TOWN    CLERKS    OF    LEBANON. 

Silas  Waterman,  from  1765  to  1776. 

John  Wheatley,  from  1776  to  1784 ;  from  March  to  July,  1786. 

Elihu  Hyde,  from  1784  to  1786. 

James  Fuller,  from  1786  to  179 2. 

Stephen  Kendrick,  from  1792  to  1819,  with  two  intervals  of  a  year 

each. 

Timothy  Kenrick,  from  1819  to  1857. 
E.  J.  Durant,  from  1857. 


APPENDIX.  45 


No.    III. 


SOLDIERS    FROM    LEBANON    IN    THE    REVOLUTION. 


John  Colburn, 
Nathaniel  Storrs, 
Edward  Slapp, 
Rev.  Isaiah  Potter, 
Nathaniel  Porter,  Jr., 
Nathan  Wheatley, 
Samuel  Estabrooks, 
Jeriah  S wetland, 


Jesse  Cooke, 
Elkanah  Sprague, 
Joseph  Wood, 
Noah  Payne, 
David  Millington, 
Thomas  Wells, 
Nehemiah  Estabrooks, 
Azariah  Bliss, 


Zuar  Eldridge,  Luther  Wheatley, 

John  Grriswold,  John  Wheatley, 


Zacheus  Downer. 
John  Slapp, 
Levi  Hyde, 


Nathan  Durkee, 
Ephraim  Wood, 
Charles  Hill. 


Probably  this  list  is  incomplete. 

Besides  these,  numbers  were  employed  as  scouts,  in  the  neighborhood, 
at  Strafford,  at  Newbury,  Vt.,  and  at  a  place  in  Canada,  called  the 
Cedars,  under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Turner. 

The  following  are  interesting  memorials  of  that  memorable  struggle : 
"An  accompt  of  the  time  and  charges  of  my  going  to  Royalton  at 

the  time  of  the  alarm  on  the  16th  of  October  1780. 

"  Myself  three  days  ;  found  a  horse  to  carry  provisions  from  Lieut. 

John  Lymans  to  the  foot  of  Tunbridge  mountains  ;  necessary  charges  — 

eight  dollars. 

"JERIAH  SWETLAND." 

"LEBANON,  Jan.  26th,  1779. 

"  At  a  town  meeting  legally  warned  were  passed  the  following  votes, 
viz.  Maj.  Slapp  moderator.  2d  That  the  town  recommend  it  to  the 
commissioned  officers  of  the  malitia  in  this  town,  to  select  six  men  as  a 
scouting  party,  in  Conjunction  with  other  towns,  in  order  to  make  Dis- 
covery of  the  Approach  of  the  enemy,  if  any  there  be,  and  to  give 
timely  notice  thereof  to  the  Inhabitants. 

"  Voted  also  to  recommend  it  to  said  officers  to  Equip  fifty-six  men  to 
be  ready  at  a  minute's  warning  to  march  against  the  Enemy,  in  Case  of 
an  invasion,  and  also  they  use  their  Endeavor  to  have  the  whole  of  their 


46  APPENDIX . 

Company  in  the  best  posture  of  Defence  that  may  be ;  in  case  of  a  gen- 
eral attack.  Voted  that  the  six  men  for  scouting  be  Engaged  till  the 
first  day  of  April  next,  unless  sooner  discharged,  and  also  that  Each 
man  Receive  40s  per  month  for  the  time  being,  as  money  passed  in 
1774  ;  and  also  that  the  Town  provide  Each  man  with  a  blanket,  and  a 
pair  of  snow-shoes  for  their  use  for  the  time  being,  and  then  to  be  Re- 
turned to  said  Town.  Voted  that  in  case  Lieut.  Ticknor  should  fail 
of  Going  with  said  Scout,  that  said  six  men  make  Choice  of  such  meet 
person  as  they  shall  Chuse  to  take  the  Command  of  them  in  his  Room. 
Voted  that  the  Authority  of  this  town  Stop  the  transporting  of  all  kinds 
of  provisions,  that  may  be  attempted  to  be  carried  away,  from  or  thro 
said  Town  till  the  Danger  of  the  Enemy  be  over  Except  such  as  are 
purchased  for  the  use  of  the  Continent,  (army) 

"  Voted  that  the  Authority  of  the  Town,  and  all  others  the  inhabitants 
Be  Directed  to  Examine  all  strangers  suspected  to  be  Spies,  and  if  need 
be  to  Detain  them,  as  the  Exigency  of  the  Case  may  Require.  Voted 
to  Disolve  said  meeting. 

"  Attest,     JN.  WHEATLEY,  Town  Clerk" 

"  An  account  of  the  Expense  and  losses  sustained  by  the  town  of 
Lebanon,  in  the  publick  Defence  since  the  contest  with  Great  Brittain. 

£     s.d. 

May  1775.     Expense  to  Committee  after  and  for  ammunition  20     5  4 
July  1776.     Expense  to  Committee  after  and  for  ammunition  29     00 
July  25.         Rec'd  of  Col.   Payne  ten  fire-locks,   20  Ibs.  of 
powder,  twenty  wt  of  Lead  and  ten  flints  which 
said  Col.  Payne  obtained  of  the  State  of  N.  H. 
for  the  use  of  the  Reg't  commanded  by  Col. 
Jonathan  Chase         ..... 
In  the  1777  paid  to  nine  men  that  join'd  Col.  Scilly's  Reg't 
for  three  years  service  in  the  Continental  Army 
£24  Each,  silver,  m       .         .         .         .216 
By  orders  from  Col.  Chase  an  Express  to  Col. 
Paine  July  3d,   1777,  22  miles — By  another 

Express  July  30th  to  Do 1   16 

July  3d,  1777.  Express  to  Capt.  Hendy,          ...  28 

July  :-!Oth.     Express  to  Col.  Morey, 14 


APPE?^D1X.  47 

£  s.  d. 
May  1777.    Capt.    Sam.    Paine    paid   an   Express   to   Col. 

Elisha  Paine         .         .         .         .         .  18 

July  1777.    6  Pack  horsos,  3  days.     34  miles  to  Coffins  116 

Man  and  horse  two  days  to  carry  Packs  12 

To  Ferriage  over  Connecticut  River  10  2 

July  30th  1777  to  six  Pack  Horses  to  Otter  Creek  70  miles 

to  the  Block  House 312 

A  man  with  the  Pack  Horses  7  days          .         .11 
Oct.  1777.     Paid  James  Jones  for  the  use  of  his  horse  to  Sar- 
atoga and  for  his  bridle  lost  in  s'd  service  1    13 
Committees    Expense  of  Collecting  and  prizing 

horses  for  the  service  to  Saratoga         .         .       114 
To  62  Ibs.  of  lead ;  powder,  3  Ibs.     .         .  317 

July,  1777.    Maj.  Griswold's  Express  to  Col.  Paine    .         .  18 

July  18th,  1780.     By  a  journey  of  two  horses  and  a  boy  two 
days  to  Orford  to  carry  the  baggage  of  a  party 
of  Frenchmen  by  order  of  Col.  Chase 

1780,  1781.  Two  Expresses  to  Canaan  on  publick  service  1 

Jan.  26,  1779  by  six  men  as  a  Scouting  Pa'rty  for  1  month 

at  40s  per  month,  as  money  passed  in  1774  12 

Aug.  1780  by  60  men,  one  day,  in  the  alarm  at  Barnard  at  3s. 

per  day  ......  9 

1780.     By  Expence  in  the  late  Alarm  Occasioned  by  the  En- 
emy's destroying  the  Town  of  Royalton,  &c         146  16  9 
By  paying  and  victualling    12   men    Engaged 
for  1  month   to   scqut   upon  the  Frontiers  at  48 
per  month,  but  as   s'd   men   were  in  s'd  service 
but  three   weeks  their    wages  and  victualling 
amounted  to  .....  41      4  6 

March  2d,  1781.  To  paying  and  victualling  six  men  Raised 
for  one  month,  to  be  under  the  command  of 
Capt.  Nelson  to  scout  upon  the  frontiers,  but  as 
s'd  men  Continued  in  s'd  service  but  three  weeks, 

Expence 22  12  3 

Expence  for  transporting  provision  for  s'd  men 
to  Newbury  .         .         .         .         .         .1 

March  1781  by  Expence  in  the  Alarm  at  Newbury         .  48 

Sept.  1781  by  expense  in  the  Alarm  at  Corinth  for  60  men         9 


48  APPENDIX. 

£.  s.  d. 

By  Expence  of  the  Selectmen  in  time  &c.  in  procuring 
provisions  and  other  Necessaries  for  the  soldiers  in 
the  several  Services  and  Alarms  inserted  as  above- 
said,  50  Days  at  6s.  per  day  .  .  .  .15 

Two  barrels  of  Beef.     2  hund'd  i  per  barrel  for  the 

troops  at  Corinth  at  £4  10s.  per  barrel      .         .          9 
1781.    By  a  bounty  paid  to  Eleven  men  that  engaged  in  the 

publick  service  for  6  months  at  £4  10s.  each  49  10 

Additional  pay  advanced  by  the  town  to  s'd  men  24s. 

per  month  for  five  months  and  £         .         .         .       72  12 
1 780.    For  three  men  that  'Listed  under  Capt  Sam'l  Paine  in 

the  Publick  Service  at  Cohos  —  a  bounty  40s.  each       6 

For  8  men  under  Capt.  Bush  1  month  and  £.  bounty 

and  wages 38     8 

To  Lieut.  Huntington  1  month  and  £  at  £5  5  per 

month 7176 

Sum  total  £770     11 


A    POEM 


Commemoration  of  tjre  ©ne  |)unkfbijj 


CHARTER  OF  LEBANON,  N.  H., 

DELIVERED   JULY  FOUKTH,    1861, 

BY    REV.     CYRUS    H.    FAY, 


OF    PROVIDENCE,    R.    I. 


REV.  C.  H.  FAY  : 

DEAR  SIR  :  In  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  the  Town,  I  hereby  request  you 
to  furnish  for  publication  a  copy  of  your  admirable  Poem,  delivered  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  last,  the  occasion  being  the  "Centennial  Celebration  of  the 
Charter  of  Lebanon,  N.  H." 

Yours  truly, 

G.  W.  BAILEY,  Corres.  Secretary. 
LEBANON,  February,  1862. 


REV.  G.  W.  BAILEY  : 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  feel  highly  complimented  by  the  request  which  the  Com- 
mittee of  my  native  town  have  made  through  you,  their  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary. Although  my  estimate  of  the  production  they  solicit  for  publication, 
may  fall  far  below  that  which  they  are  pleased  to  entertain,  I  cannot  refuse  to 

comply  with  their  kind  request. 

Yours  most  truly, 

C.  H.  FAY. 
PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  February  7,  1862. 


POEM. 


WE  come,  thy  children  come,  dear  Mother  Land ! 

Thy  call  we  heard  afar.     By  eastern  strand, 

Where  ocean  hillows  roll  their  anthem  bold,  — 

'Mid  northern  hills,  which  lift  their  summits  old 

Above  the  vales  where  hamlets  nestle  warm, 

Though  cold  around  them  breaks  the  awful  storm,  — 

On  prairies  wide,  where  towns  like  mushrooms  grow, 

As  westward  waves  of  population  flow,  — 

By  southern  streams,  which  onward  ever  sweep, 

Through  green  savannas,  broadening  towards  the  deep,  - 

In  cities  vast,  our  country's  pride  and  boast, 

Like  jewels  strung  along  her  winding  coast ; 

In  rising  towns,  remote  from  thronging  mart, 

Where  springs  the  life-blood  of  the  nation's  heart,  — 

We  heard  thy  voice,  and  now  in  gladness  come, 

To  share  thy  welcome  at  our  childhood's  home ! 

But  dost  thou  know  us  all  ?  and  wilt  thou  own  ? 

Thy  "boys"  have  up  to  stalwart  manhood  grown, — 

Exchanged  their  noisy  sports  and  careless  ways, 

For  sober  work  in  life's  meridian  blaze. 

Thy  "  girls,"  which  left  thee  when  both  young  and  shy, 

Their  fortunes  in  the  world's  strange  mart  to  try, 

Are  women  now,  and  mothers,  too,  I  ween, 

With  troops  of  children,  strangers  on  thy  "green." 

And  as  these  winds  around  our  brows  shall  play, 

They  '11  lift  to  view  some  locks  of  silver  grey,  — 

Badges  of  age,  perchance  of  wisdom  great, 

Gracefully  worn  by  fathers  of  the  State. 

Yes,  we  have  changed  since,  joyous,  hale,  and  fleet, 


52  POEM. 

These  fields  we  roamed  on  childhood's  bounding  feet : 

Long  years,  eventful  years,  since  then  have  flown, 

Which,  seeds  of  care,  with  lavish  hands  have  sown. 

Thou,  too,  hast  changed,  0  mother  of  us  all ! 

Impartial  time  spares  neither  great  nor  small ; 

It  furrows  makes  on  nature's  rugged  brow, 

And,  pressed  with  age,  e'en  rock-braced  mountain's  bo.\. 

But  slight  the  change  that  o'er  thy  form  has  passed : 

The  same  firm  hills  still  breast  the  northern  blast ; 

Though,  to  our  view,  their  brows  seem  tempeskworn, 

And  here  and  there  their  forest-robe  is  torn  ; 

And  on  their  slopes,  once  mantled  thick  with  trees, 

Broad  fields  of  grain  are  nodding  to  the  breeze. 

We  miss  the  solemn  pines  that  whilom  stood, 

In  stately  pride,  the  monarchs  of  the  wood, 

Wearing  their  plume-like  crests,  forever  green, 

The  crowning  grace  of  all  the  wild-wood  scene. 

0,  that  one  relic  of  the  mighty  race 

Were  left,  to  show  our  children,  from  its  place, 

How  stood,  in  stature  grand,  in  strength  sublim*1, 

The  forest  A  naks  of  the  olden  time  ! 

Slight  change  within  these  quiet  vales  we  see, 

Made  verdant  still  by  tireless  Mascomy, 

And  vocal,  too,  for,  as  it  flows  along, 

Its  waves  keep  step  to  their  own  joyous  song. 

The  grand  old  elms,  'round  which  in  youth  we  played, 

Still  throw,  for  other  sports,  their  welcome  shade,  — 

Still  lift  their  heads  above  the  busy  town, 

And  on  its  thrift  with  conscious  pride  look  down. 

But  in  thy  homes  on  hill-side  and  on  plain, 

And  in  thy  streets,  where,  like  descending  rain, 

The  foot-falls  pattered  from  the  dawn  of  day, 

'Till  deep'ning  shadows  quenched  the  fading  ray  ; 

Sad  proofs  we  see  of  changes  manifold, 

Among  the  forms  that  walked  these  ways  of  old. 

The  fathers,  mothers,  where,  0,  wh^re  are  they? 

Their  furrowed  brows  meet  not  our  gaze  to-day. 

Ah,  there,  within  the  churchyard's  realm  of  rest, 


POEM. 

Their  bones  repose,  their  spirits  with  the  blest! 
Finished  their  course,  their  noble  life-work  done, 
They  bowed  in  death,  and  passed  triumphant  on, 
Leaving  exempt,  for  aye,  from  moth  and  rust, 
The  stainless,  rich  memorial  of  the  just. 

Swayed  by  the  hour,  our  minds  far  backward  run, 
Backward  to  SKVENTEEN  HUNDRED  SIXTY-ONE,  — 
A  century  from  to-day !     Now  look  upon 
The  chartered  •'  tract "  just  christened  LEBANON  ! 
From  hill-top  high  to  depth  of  lowest  dale, 
The  lonesome  winds  through  olden  forests  wail ;  — 
We  see  no  opening  in  the  solemn  shade, 
Save  here  and  there  by  fierce  tornado  made ; 
Or  where  the  streams  from  shadows  leaping  bright, 
Their  breasts  expand  to  catch  the  gladsome  light. 
The  cunning  fox,  and  wolf,  and  wildcat  grey, 
All  undisturbed  pursue  their  panting  prey ; 
The  cautious  crow  no  powder  ever  smelt, 
Nor  fiercer  hawk  the  fear  of  huntsman  felt ; 
And  eagle  bold,  on  craggy  height  enthroned, 
His  sway  enjoys,  by  feathered  subjects  owned. 
Ah,  who  will  dare  upon  his  realm  intrude  ? 
Who  break  the  spell  of  this  deep  solitude  ? 
Lo,  our  reply  !     Yon  ranks  of  yeomen  bold, 
With  sinews  toughened  both  by  heat  and  cold, 
By  rain,  by  sunshine,  and  by  hardest  toil, 
To  plant  their  homes  upon  this  virgin  soil, 
And  rear  their  church,  —  religion's  sacred  shrine,  — 
Are  marching  northward,  nerved  by  faith  divine. 
There's  Dana,  Downer,  Davidson,  and  Wood, 
Storrs,  Porter,  Hebbard,  Wheatley,  true  and  good, 
Hill,  Kilbourue,  Hartshorn,  Meacham,  Huntington, 
Waterman,  Blodgett,  heroes  every  one ; 
Jones,  Dewey,  Turner,  Tilden,  Fuller,  Hyde, 
Estabrooks,  Cooke,  and  Aspenwall  beside. 

Eldridge,  Lathrop,  Hough,  Potter,  Hutehinson, 
And  Bliss,  Peck,  Aldeu,  Griswold,  Sprague,  aud  Young 


54  POEM. 

Chase,  Martin,  Barrows,  Woodward,  Allen,  Hall, 
Clapp,  B«sworth,  Billings,  Ticknor,  Freeman,  all, 
With  Colburn,  Swetland,  Parkhurst,  Kendrick,  Fay, 
Wells,  Liscomb,  Durkee,  Payne,  at  later  day 
Their  stout  hands  gave  to  clear  the  forest  wild, 
And  patient  wrought  till  fields  in  beauty  smiled  : 
And  other  names  there  were,  which,  had  I  time. 
I  'd  gladly  weave  in  my  unpolished  rhyme. 

Now  rings  the  axe  from  depths  of  wildest  gloom, 
Now  crash  the  trees  descending  to  their  doom  ; 
Loul  crackles  next  the  all-consuming  fire, 
While  smoke- wreathes  rise  with  aspect  dark  and  dire, 
Befitting  pall,  as  spreading  o'er  the  skies, 
For  forests  wild  departing  from  our  eyes ! 
And  now  behold  the  "log-house,"  rude  and  low, 
And  fields  of  grain,  which  round  it  rankly  grow : 
What  simple  life  beneath  that  humble  roof, 
Of  what  hard  toil  the  "clearing"  wide  gives  proof. 
Thus  in  the  wavy  woods,  from  east  to  west, 
Cleared  spaces  bloom  like  "  islands  of  the  blest ;  " 
Grouping  in  beauty  round  that  central  spot, 
Revered  by  age,  and  ne'er  by  youth  forgot, 
Where  stands  the  sacred  church,  and  school-house  plain, 
The  cherished  germs  of  all  our  social  gain. 
Small  profits  from  their  arduous  labors  grew, 
But  few  the  wants  their  frugal  habits  knew. 
Silks,  satins,  laces,  ribbons,  such  as  now 
Rustle  on  hoops,  and  flutter  round  the  brow 
Of  maidens  fair,  in  all  the  winds  that  play, 
Were  quite  unknown  in  that  primeval  day. 
In  homespun  suits  young  men  went  forth  to  "  woo," 
And  sweet  times  had  with  maids,  in  homespun  too  :  — 
Sweet  times,  though  by  the  fire-place  wide  and  high,  — 
The  tongs  and  shovel  standing  staidly  by,  — 
They  sat  on  chairs  flag-bottomed,  heavy,  rough, 
Or  "  settle"  hard,  crammed  full  of  household  stuff! 
No  chaise  then  rocked  aristocratic  pride, 
Nor  buggy  light  gave  pampered  wealth  a  ride : 


POEM.  55 


The  farm-horse  served  for  draft  and  carriage  both, 
And  seldom  he  at  duty's  call  was  loath ; 
Saddled  and  pillioned,  he  the  ground  would  clear, 
With  man  and  wife,  or  swain  and  sweetheart  dear. 
What  though  so  rude  the  ways  and  customs  then  ? 
They  gave  the  world  some  ornamental  men  ; 
And  women,  too,  were  moulded  by  their  might, 
In  whose  pure  fame  their  children  now  delight. 

Now  later  times,  our  childhood's  far-off  days, 
With  all  their  pleasant  scenes  and  social  ways, 
Are  brought  to  view  by  mem'ry's  magic  power, 
And  notice  claim  at  this  high  festal  hour ! 
Behold  the  farm-house,  of  content  the  seat, 
Beneath  whose  roof,  in  union  close  and  sweet, 
Plainness  and  plenty  side  by  side  could  live, 
And  toil  to  health  its  richest  bloom  could  give ! 
Thy  sway,  capricious  Fashion,  was  unknown  ; 
Then  bowed  no  slaves  before  thy  gilded  throne : 
Luxury  then  could  not  her  sway  advance, 
Nor  thou,  insidious  foe,  Extravagance. 
No  idler  droned  within  the  busy  hive, 
No  sharper  purposed  by  his  wits  to  thrive, 
For  sun-browned  labor  then  with  honor  crowned. 
Held,  all  in  "  fee,"  the  thrifty  acres  round. 
At  home,  where  woman  held  her  useful  sway. 
No  petted  daughter  languished  life  away, 
Or  thrummed  piano  while  her  mother  toiled. 
Or  novels  read,  till  she  for  service  spoiled, 
Was  only  fit  to  lounge  and  flirt  the  fan, 
Companion  meet  for  some  exquisite  man  ! 
Then  Lowell's  looms  were  but  ideal  things. 
And  Cotton  was  not  of  the  race  of  kings : 
For  maiden  sinews  did  the  work  of  steam, 
The  shuttle  threw,  and  drove  the  heavy  beam, 
Made  hum  with  speed  the  ancient  spinning-wheel, 
And,  partner  of  its  toil,  the  rapid  reel. 
0,  how  could  cotton  gain  tyrannic  rule. 


56  POEM. 

While  woman  wrought  in  home's  industrial  school ! 

Before  her  glance  have  bolder  tyrants  cowed  : 

E'en  lords  domestic  to  her  tongue  have  bowed : 

What  chance,  then,  'gainst  her  supple,  skilful  hand, 

The  base  pretender  of  our  southern  land ! 

0,  woman  true,  again  assert  thy  power, 

And  light  shall  break  upon  this  darksome  hour ! 

Then  locomotive,  screaming  forth  its  ire, 
As  if  possessed  of  fierce  fire-demon's  dire, 
Dragging  its  lengthy  train  on  desp'rate  trips, 
Like  the  dread  dragon  of  Apocylypse, 
Had  never  filled  these  beasts  and  birds  with  fright, 
Or  echoes  waked  on  every  mountain  height  ; 
The  stages  then  came  rolling  into  town, 
And  from  their  tops  the  "mails"  were  tumbled  down. 
What  favored  men  stage-drivers  were,  in  view 
Of  boys,  who  longed  to  be  stage-drivers  too ! 

Each  season  brought  its  proper  work  and  care  ; 
Each  season  had  of  pastime  meet  a  share. 
When  blooming  spring  led  on  her  flowery  train, 
We  ploughed  the  field,  and  sowed  the  fruitful  grain ; 
And  when  the  "  stent "  was  done,  the  easy  "  stent," 
With  powder,  shot,  and  gun,  we  hunting  went, 
And  roamed  the  woods  in  search  of  tempting  game, 
That  we  might  win  successful  hunters'  fame : 
How  proud,  when  homeward  we  in  triumph  bore 
A  crow,  or  fox,  and  told  adventures  o'er! 
What  strains  rang  forth  from  leafy  wood  and  grove, 
As  spring's  wild  warblers  sang  their  guileless  love! 
Then  rollicked  wild  the  free  and  happy  lambs, 
In  pastures  green,  o'erwatched  by  careful  dams  ; 
And  merry  calves  in  barn-yard's  narrow  space, 
Fought  mimic  fights,  and  ran  the  reckless  race, 
AVhile  weary  cows,  the  day's  hard  grazing  done, 
Sedately  chewed  their  cuds  and  watched  the  fun ! 


POEM.  57 

Next,  summer  came,  the  "haying  season"  hot, 
Whose  arduous  tasks  will  never  be  forgot. 
0  scythe,  and  rake,  and  pitchfork  sharp  and  strong, 
What  memories  now  around  you  closely  throng, 
Of  strifes  with  neighbors  in  adjoining  field, 
And  feats  herculean,  when,  —  the  muscles  steeled 
By  blackstrap  —  men,  themselves  no  longer  then, 
Went  wild  with  strength,  and  boys  felt  strong  as  men  ! 
What  music,  as  the  mower's  scythe  went  through 
The  grass  so  tender  in  the  morning  dew, 
And  bobolink  and  lark  flung  clear  and  free, 
Their  matin  notes  of  liveliest  melody  ! 

Two  holidays  resplendent  summer  had  :  — 
The  FOURTH,  when  tories  deemed  the  land  was  mad. 
What  cannon-peals  awoke  its  morning  bright ! 
What  echoes  broke  and  thundered  into  night ! 
What  speech,  when  patriotism  found  a  vent, 
Through  lips  of  orator  grandiloquent ! 
We  do  this  business  now  in  other  ways, 
With  crackers  sharp,  and  fireworks'  wondrous  blaze,  — 
But  does  the  land  with  loftier  ardor  glow, 
Than  in  those  simpler  days  long  time  ago  ? 
And  last,  like  angel  visit,  came  serene, 
"  Commencement  Day,"  on  Dartmouth's  classic  green. 
Ah  me !  what  awe  those  learned  men  inspired, 
In  neckcloth  white  and  broadcloth  black  attired, 
While  slow,  through  rustic  crowds,  they  moved  in  state, 
The  critics  grave  of  anxious  graduate  ! 
What  wonder  filled  our  minds  when  standing  mute 
Among  the  carts  of  Yankee  Pedler's  cute, 
While  they  their  gaping  victims  sought  to  nab, 
Through  dire  confusion  wrought  by  ceaseless  gab  ! 

When  Autumn  followed  in  the  gorgeous  train, 
We  gathered  in  the  promised  harvest  gain, 
Our  hearts  o'erflowing  with  unceasing  praise, 
To  Him  who  gave  its  blandly  tempered  days. 


58  POEM. 

—  Those  cool  autumnal  days,  with  mornings  bright, 
And  sunsets  glorious  fading  into  night ;  — 
Those  peaceful  nights,  kind  nature's  choicest  boon, 
So  bright  with  stars,  and  graced  by  harvest-moon ! 
With  hues  all  fadeless  o'er  us  now  they  rise, 
As  erst  they  rose  on  our  delighted  eyes. 

'T  was  then  —  the  day's  work  done  —  with  line  and  hook, 
And  expectation  great,  we  sought  the  brook, 
Where  dwelt  the  wary  dace  and  spotted  trout, 
With  high  artistic  skill  to  pull  them  out. 
How  oft,  alas,  our  only  earnest  bites, 
Musquitoes  gave  of  furious  appetites  ! 
Not  e'en  a  shiner  dangled  from  the  pole, 
And  died  to  keep  the  fisher's  credit  whole. 

Those  "  Huskings  "  in  the  long  cool  evenings  bright, 
And  after-sports,  far-reaching  into  night — 
And  "Apple-Bees,"  that  ended  off  with  plays, 
Too  rude,  they  think,  in  these  more  prudish  days, 
Ah,  clear  are  all  in  memory's  pictured  past, 
And  glow  in  colors  which  through  life  will  last. 

Nor  shall  we  e'er  forget  that  time  so  grand 
When  martial  strains  went  pealing  through  the  land,  — 
Great  Muster  Day!  0  ne'er  shall  pass  from  mind 
The  Bugler  fat,  of  most  mysterious  wind,  — 
The  nervous  Drummer,  drumming  as  if  Mars 
Had  charged  him  with  the  noise  of  all  his  wars,  — 
The  Fifer,  pouring  out  his  breath  in  streams, 
And  which,  like  steam  let-off,  expired  in  screams ;  — 
The  Soldier,  marching  at  the  loud  command,  — 
The  Captain  bold,  with  flashing  sword  in  hand,  — 
The  Colonel  fine,  on  restive  charger  set,  — 
The  General  grand,  with  gleaming  epaulette,  — 
And  strange  "  sham-fight  "  which  rounded  off  the  day, 
That  we  might  "  homeward  plod  our  weary  way." 

Next,  —  greatest  day  of  all,  —  Thanksgiving  came  ! 
0,  weeks  before  we  fancied  time  was  lame, 
Or  hard  opposed  by  fate  and  furies  strong, 


POEM.  59 

So  slowly  moved  hia  lagging  steps  along. 
At  length  Aurora  saunt'ring  up  the  east, 
Announced  the  great  day  of  the  yearly  Feast ! 
What  joy,  as  brothers,  sisters,  parted  wide 
From  parents  dear,  and  home's  loved  altar-side, 
Together  met  their  youth  to  live  again, 
And  brighten  love's  enduring,  golden  chain ! 
What  rapture  felt  impatient  boys  that  day, 
As  turkey  brown  on  ample  platter  lay, 
And  chicken,  rich  plum-pudding,  pie  and  cake, 
Their  keen  vorocious  appetites  did  wake ! 
But  here  I  pause  —  my  palate  tickles  so, 
By  visions  fired,  —  I  dare  no  further  go  ! 

—  Then  followed  Winter,  blustering,  cold,  and  drear, 
But  not  without  its  hours  of  pleasant  cheer. 
Those  evening  pastimes  round  the  glowing  hearth, 
When  stormy  blasts  went  howling  o'er  the  earth ; 
The  merry  sleigh- rides  when  the  winds  were  still, 
And  waveless  snow  wrapt  valley,  plain,  and  hill ; 
Our  slides  on  sleds  our  own  good  hands  had  made, 
And  skating  sports  upon  the  ringing  glade,  — 
0,  these  will  ne'er  by  us  forgotten  be,  — 
Oases  they  of  deathless  memory. 
As  winter  days  returned,  so  short  and  cool,  — 
The  farm-work  done  —  then  op'd  the  winter-school ; 
And  boys  and  girls  who  had  their  "  teens"  attained, 
Were  sent  to  be  by  sapient  "  Master"  trained  ;  — 
The  "  School-Mar m"  mild,  who'd  ruled" the  smaller  fry. 
Through  blander  months,  had  laid  her  sceptre  by. 

And  now  before  us  stands,  distinct,  complete, 
The  School-House  famous,  learning's  sober  seat ; 
Like  other  seats  where  wisdom  taught  its  lore, 
Kenowned  by  age,  and  by  decay  still  more. 
Its  site,  though  central  to  the  neighbors  round, 
Was  not  on  nature's  most  commanding  ground  : 
Seldom  did  human  hands  essay  to  place 


60  POEM. 

Upon  that  spot  an  artificial  grace. 

No  skill  e'er  drew  the  structure's  odd  design, 

Nor  was  it  built  to  plummet  and  to  line ; 

No  paint  e'er  stained  its  loosened  clapboards  thin, 

Nor  white- wash  cheap  relieved  the  walls  within  ; 

In  lieu  thereof  the  smoke's  perpetual  play, 

The  ceiling  frescoed  in  its  own  wild  way ; 

For  high  within  a  solemn  fire-place  stood, 

For  nothing  else  but  furious  smoking  good. 

Around  this  place,  arranged  in  order  wise, 

Kose  bench  on  bench,  as  Alps  on  Alps  arise  : 

The  seats  in  front  were  never  made  to  ease 

The  short-legged  urchins  of  the  A  B  C's, 

But  made  to  earnest  give,  at  life's  young  day, 

Of  science's  heights  and  learning's  rugged  way. 

And  now  'mid  all  conspicuous  we  can  see 

The  place  of  dreaded,  high  authority, 

Crowned  with  its  chair,  the  seat  of  sternest  rule, 

Where  sat  enthroned  the  monarch  of  the  school, 

Whose  smile  benignant  filled  the  room  with  cheer, 

As  smiling  day  a  cloudless  hemisphere ; 

Whose  awful  frown  from  that  Olympian  height 

Cast  o'er  his  realm  a  shadow  black  as  night. 

Those  masters  wise !  a  wondrous  race  of  men ! 

0,  shall  we  look  upon  their  like  again ! 

From  college  some,  with  tongues  so  toned  to  Greek, 

They  half  disdained  their  mother  tongue  to  speak  ; 

And  others  were  with  metaphysics  crammed, 

All  Stewart,  Bacon,  Locke,  and  Brown  were  jammed 

Within  the  compass  of  their  craniums  wide, 

Enough  to  thrust  all  rudiments  aside  ! 

But  most  of  learning  less,  or  less  pretence, 

Their  school  advanced  by  sterling  common  sense : 

Remembered  these  with  lasting,  grateful  love, 

And  ranked  the  heroes  of  the  earth  above. 

What  though  of  yore  advantages  were  few? 
The  text-book  dry,  and  mode  of  teaching  too  ; 
What  though  brain-labor,  earnest,  hard  was  done  ? 


POEM.  61 

Were  not,  through  these,  bright  crowns  of  triumph  won? 

We  've  teachers  now  more  finished,  it  is  said, 

And  modern  modes  to  serve  in  study's  stead  ; 

We  've  school-rooms  built  with  childhood's  ease  in  view, 

And  fixtures  fine,  our  childhood  never  knew : 

Say,  will  the  young,  thus  favored,  e'er  attain 

To  higher  worth,  for  pathway  made  so  plain  ? 

Lo,  now  the  "  Meeting  House"  upon  the  "  green," 
So  firmly  built,  and  placed  there  to  be  seen,  — 
Since  thrust  aside,  with  other  things  of  old, 
By  modern  taste,  or  by  irrev'rence  bold : 
Its  plain  white  walls  rise  clearly  on  our  view, 
As  once  they  rose  when  life  with  us  was  new ; 
And  towering  upward,  graced  with  gilded  balls, 
Which  glow  like  fire  as  summer's  sunshine  falls ; 
The  "  steeple's"  outlines  grow  before  our  eyes, 
A  thing  of  earth,  but  reaching  to  the  skies ! 
In  burly  strength  the  ancient  structure  stood, 
Expressive  of  its  sturdy  builders'  mood, 
Daring  both  storm  and  heresy  to  mock, 
And  crow  defiance  through  its  weather-cock ! 
Within,  what  marvels  our  young  eyes  beheld,  — 
The  church  arrangements  of  the  days  of  eld ! 
Before  us,  raised  sublimely  broad  and  high, 
(Fit  stand,  we  thought,  for  message  from  the  sky,) 
The  pulpit  stood,  and  threw  its  shadow  o'er 
The  "  deacons'  seats,"  built  close  its  base  before  ; 
While  just  above  it,  pendant  on  a  cord, 
Was  hung  the  broad,  mysterious  sounding-board. 
How  oft  we  've  wondered  what  its  purpose  was, 
And  how  it  served  religion's  holy  cause  ! 
How  oft  we  've  trembled  for  the  saints  below, 
Lest  rope  should  snap  and  let  it  downward  go ! 
The  pews,  high-backed,  were  built  both  snug  and  square, 
With  seats  on  hinges  to  turn  up  in  prayer : 

What  rattle,  as  this  service  ended,  when 

• 

The  seats  fell  back  and  said  their  loud  amen ! 


62  POEM. 

Mid- way  between  the  roof  and  well- worn  floor, 
By  pillars  propped,  above  each  entrance  door, 
On  three  sides  round,  the  galleries  were  built, 
Whose  outer  nooks,  for  boyhood's  restless  guilt, 
Afforded  safe  retreat,  since  there  the  eye 
Of  parson  grave  could  not  the  pranks  espy. 
Sometimes  a  sound  he  'd  hear  and  guess  the  cause, 
And  with  a  warning  word  give  mischief  "  pause." 
No  sacrilegeous  stove  there  glowed  with  heat, 
Save  private  ones  of  tin  for  aged  feet, 
Though  windows  loose  and  doors  on  every  side 
Let  air  drive  in  through  chinks  and  crannies  wide ! 
How  could  devotion  rise  in  place  so  cold  ? 
Was  preaching  warmer  in  those  days  of  old  ? 

Those  saintly  men  who  broke  the  Bread  of  Life, 
And  waged  the  pious,  theologic  strife, 
Were  grave  of  mein  and  solemn  was  there  speech, 
Too  distant  most  for  childhood's  heart  to  reach  ; 
They  seemed  to  move  in  pathways  all  their  own, 
Forever  in  the  shadow  of  the  Throne ! 
But  well  they  met  their  days'  demands,  and  now 
Each  shines  with  Paul,  a  crown  upon  his  brow. 

0,  with  what  brightness  beams  life's  early  day ! 
What  charms  invest  its  scenes  long  passed  away  ! 
We  thank  Thee,  Father,  in  this  festive  hour, 
For  faithful  memory's  hallowing  power ; 
And  for  the  bliss  delicious,  pure,  she  brings 
From  childhood's  clear,  and  sweet,  and  sparkling  springs! 
—  But  now  from  these  high  sources  must  we  turn, 
For  lo,  our  hearts  with  patriot  ardor  burn  ; 
The  inspiration  of  this  day's  decree, 
Which  gave  our  Nation  Birth  and  Liberty. 

—  Why  sweep  these  shadows  o'er  the  andscape  fair  ? 
Why  trembles,  as  with  doom,  the  heavy  air? 
O,  has  our  Union  lived  its  day  of  glory, 


POEM.  63 

To  henceforth  be  with  empires  old  of  story  ? 

And  will  its  stars,  bright  gems  on  Freedom's  crown, 

Be  plucked  therefrom  and  then  go  darkling  down  ? 

And  must  those  hopes  enkindled  by  their  light, 

Throughout  the  world,  be  quenched  in  sudden  night  ? 

No  ;  by  the  vows  of  early  martyrs  dead,  — 

No ;  by  the  blood  our  honored  fathers  shed,  — 

No  ;  by  their  bones  and  battle-fields  renowned, 

Our  guarded  relics,  and  our  hallowed  ground,  — 

No  ;  by  our  past  achievements  grand  and  great, 

By  foregleams  bright  of  still  more  glorious  state,  — 

No ;  by  that  name  immortal,  WASHINGTON, 

No  star  shall  pale  to  perish,  —  no,  not  one  ! 

Soon  rebel  hearts  shall  cease  our  flag  to  spurn, 

And  mad  Secession's  fires  to  spread  and  burn  ; 

And  hopes  of  vengeful  despots  now  aglow, 

Shall  quickly  out  in  endless  darkness  go : 

For  rising  up  in  armed  battalions  grand, 

Are  loyal  men  throughout  our  northern  land, 

Whose  solemn  vow  is  registered  on  high, 

That  now  Rebellion  impious  must  die ; 

And  if  its  death  involves  foul  Slavery's  doom, 

Then  both  be  hurled  into  one  common  tomb  ! 

My  Native  State !  the  home  of  heroes'  bold, 
Whose  names  on  scroll  historic  are  enrolled, 
Thy  quick  response  from  all  these  vales  and  hills, 
To  Freedom's  call,  my  heart  with  rapture  fills. 
Thy  faithful  sons  now  marching  bravely  forth, 
With  marshalled  hosts  from  all  the  mighty  North, 
Will  prove  where  rolls  the  conflict  fierce  and  dark, 
Worthy  the  fame  of  Langdon  and  of  Stark. 

Dear  Native  Town !  my  love  flows  forth  to  thee, 
For  all  thy  proofs  of  noble  loyalty  ! 
Thy  warrior  sons  are  not  of  coward  stock,  — 
No  braver  hearts  will  breast  the  battle-shock  ; 
For  Kendrick  skilled,  and  Benton  calm,  aye,  all, 
Have  sworn  to  conquer  or  to  bravely  fall. 


64  POEM. 

0,  that  the  grave  might  yield  one  hero  dead, 
Of  valor  high,  that  peerless  lustre  shed 
On  Mexic's  plains,  whose  form  to-day  we  miss, 
Thy  worthy  son,  lamented  Major  Bliss ! 

I  pause  ;  my  task,  loved  mother  land,  is  done  ; 
How  mean  for  one  thus  honored  as  thy  son ! 
Accept  it  as  the  tribute  of  a  heart, 
Whose  thankful  love  would  worthier  gift  impart. 

—  Shall  e'er  again  our  longing  eyes  behold 
These  verdant  plains  and  rocky  summits  old  ? 
This  may  not  be,  for  shadows  flit  in  view  ;  — 
No,  —  may  not  be —  so  here 's  our  sad  adieu : 
Farewell  green  Vales  and  upland  Pastures  wide,  — 
Farewell  ye  Woods,  whose  grandeurs  yet  abide,  — 
Farewell  ye  "  Homes,"  the  nurseries  of  Men,  — 
Farewell  dear  Granite  Hills,  still  firm  as  when 
By  wooing  winds  first  kissed  in  dalliance  free, 
And  round  you  rolled  the  new-born  Mascomy ! 

Bright  stream  of  our  childhood,  farewell,  farewell 
Still  gladden  thy  shores  through  meadow  and  dell ; 
And  long  may  the  sound  of  thy  musical  waves, 
Be  requiem  meet  by  our  forefathers'  graves ! 


AN 


OKATIOI^ 


Commemoration  of  tjje  ©ne  Pimbrebtjj 


CHARTER  OF   LEBANON,   N.   H. 

DELIVERED  JULY  FOURTH,  1861. 


BY    PROF.    j.    -W". 

OF  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE. 


LEBANON,  January  10,  1862. 
PROF.  J.  W.  PATTERSON  : 

DEAR  SIR  :  In  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Lebanon  I  return  you  their  thanks 
for  the  eloquent  and  timely  patriotic  Oration,  delivered  July  4,  1861,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Charter  of  Lebanon, 
and  respectfully  request  a  copy  for  publication. 
Truly  yours, 

CHARLES  A.  DOWNS, 

For  the  Committee  of  the  Town. 


HANOVER,  January  11,  1862. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  note,  com- 
municating to  me  the  wish  of  the  citizens  of  Lebanon,  that  a  copy  of  the 
Oration  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  deliver  at  the  centennial  celebration,  on 
the  4th  of  July  last,  be  given  to  the  press. 

I  will  comply  with  the  request,  without  apology,  though,  as  you  are  aware, 
the  Oration  was  prepared  hastily,  to  meet  an  emergency,  and  with  no  expecta- 
tion of  its  publication. 

Please  accept  my  cordial  acknowledgment  of  the  courtesy  with  which  you 
have  expressed  to  me  the  thanks  of  the  people  of  Lebanon,  and  believe  me  to 
be,  with  sentiments  of  high  regard, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  W.  PATTERSON. 


ORATION. 


IT  is  a  beautiful  custom,  handed  down  to  us  from  the 
earliest  ages,  to  celebrate  those  days  of  the  calendar 
which  have  been  consecrated  to  a  perpetual  remem- 
brance either  by  great  misfortunes  or  splendid  tri- 
umphs. 

Great  deeds  and  imperishable  events,  as  they  trans- 
pire, throw  an  interest  and  a  glory  into  the  passing 
hours  which  time  can  never  efface. 

Days  thus  embalmed,  as  they  rise  on  the  circling 
year,  touch  common  sensibilities  and  find  a  glad  rec- 
ognition in  the  loftiest  and  purest  sentiments  of  men. 

Holiest  among  these  secular  sabbaths  is  the  birth- 
day of  our  own  national  independence.  It  has  a  sin- 
gular prominence  in  the  record  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  The  free  of  all  lands  are  a  distinct  people, 
whose  unity  and  lineage  is  perpetuated  by  a  paternity 
of  ideas,  and  this  subtle  filiation  has  proved  closer  and 
stronger  than  the  affinities  of  blood.  The  unbroken 
record  of  the  struggles  of  this  race  for  liberty,  stretch- 
ing through  the  varied  events  of  all  ages,  develops  the 
divine  plan  in  human  government.  It  is  this  that 
gives  a  sublime  import  to  the  festivities  of  a  free  peo- 
ple uniting  to  celebrate  their  national  triumphs.  It  is 
this  that  gives  to  our  national  holiday  its  prime  signifi- 
cance. 


68  ORATION. 

The  student  of  history  finds  here  and  there,  in  the 
pathway  of  nations,  great  epochs  into  which  many 
streams  of  influence,  flowing  from  different  countries 
and  distant  periods,  concentre  and  combine  their  forces, 
and  wherein  the  intelligence  and  culture,  the  strength 
and  liberty  secured  by  patient  study  and  experience,  by 
suffering  and  bloody  conflicts,  in  the  lapse  of  years,  are 
organized  into  new  and  superior  institutions  by  men 
whom  Providence  has  raised  up  for  such  a  time. 

Such  was  the  day  we  celebrate.  It  was  one  of  the 
great  nervous  centres  of  history,  spreading  its  broad 
and  sensitive  network  backward  and  forward,  receiving 
influence  and  vitality  from  every  event  and  era  of  the 
past,  and  transmitting  a  formative  power  and  an  eleva- 
tion of  character  to  the  institutions  of  the  future. 

The  declaration  of  rights  and  the  proclamation  of 
independence  made  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  viewed 
in  their  connection  with  English  and  colonial  history, 
and  the  subsequent  establishment  of  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent government,  constitute  one  of  the  most  mo- 
mentous and  significant  events  of  civil  history.  The 
cause  of  freedom  and  of  civilization  there  moved  for- 
ward and  entrenched  themselves  behind  principles  and 
institutions  which,  by  the  help  of  God,  shall  never 
be  thrown  down,  but  shall  stand  the  imperishable  bul- 
warks of  liberty  and  the  splendid  monuments  of  a 
Christian  civilization. 

It  would  be  a  strange  and  unfilial  act  in  us  to  re- 
frain, on  the  recurrence  of  such  a  day,  from  paying 
our  tribute  of  admiration  and  love  to  the  great  states- 
men and  patriots,  and  the  brave  yeomanry  of  that  dark 


ORATION.  f>9 

and  perilous  time  when  the  foundations  of  many  gen- 
erations were  laid  in  tears  and  blood. 

The  work  of  our  fathers  was  not  so  much  the  re- 
assertion  of  principles  which  had  long  been  recogniz- 
ed, and  the  re-establishment,  upon  better  foundations, 
of  institutions  which  the  lust  of  power  had  subverted, 
as  it  was  the  clear  and  distinct  enunciation  of  truths 
which  before  had  been  only  dimly  foreshadowed  in 
songs  and  literature,  and  the  firm  and  fearless  setting 
up,  upon  a  broad  scale,  of  institutions  which  before 
had  only  existed  in  partial  and  miniature  forms. 

There  were  pure  patriots  and  great  captains  among 
the  ancients  who  struggled  and  died  for  liberty.  There 
were  wise  statesmen  and  elegant  scholars,  profound 
philosophers  and  gifted  poets,  but  in  the  absence  of 
the  art  of  printing,  there  could  be  no  wide-spread  lit- 
erature, no  general  intelligence  among  large  and  ex- 
panded populations  ;  and  hence  the  right  of  suffrage 
and  representation  could  not  be  extended,  and  was  not 
recognized  as  a  common  right,  even  by  the  freest  and 
most  enlightened  of  the  ancient  nations.  The  great 
centres  of  learning  had  not  at  their  command  the  swift 
messengers  of  a  broad  commerce,  nor  the  iron  web  of 
trade,  which  in  our  day  carry  thought  and  civilization 
wherever  the  sun  sheds  its  light  upon  the  habitations 
of  men.  As  a  consequence  of  this  want  of  general 
intelligence  and  the  means  of  a  rapid  intercommunica- 
tion, republics  extending  and  transmitting  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  a  well-ordered  liberty  to  large  and 
populous  regions  could  not  exist ;  only  narrow  democ- 
racies, limited  to  a  single  city  or  league  of  cities,  and 
destined  soon  to  be  swept  away  by  the  savage  hordes 


"70  ORATION. 

of  barbarism,  or,  if  suffered  to  survive,  shielded  only 
by  their  insignificance.  One  after  another  those  little 
free  states  were  blotted  out,  either  by  foreign  power  or 
intestine  strife.  At  length  the  battle-axe  of  the  Goth 
and  Vandal  was  heard  to  ring  even  on  the  gates  of 
Rome,  and  the  great  empire,  which  had  retained  the 
empty  name  and  form  of  the  republic  long  after  its  life 
had  departed,  was  itself  subverted. 

With  the  supremacy  of  barbarism  began  the  long 
night  of  history. 

"  As  Argus  eyes,  by  Hermes'  wand  oppressed, 
Closed  one  by  one  to  everlasting  rest ; 
Thus  at  her  felt  approach  and  secret  might 
Art  after  art  goes  out,  and  all  is  night ; 
See  skulking  truth  to  her  old  cavern  fled, 
Mountains  of  casuistry  heaped  on  her  head ; 
Philosophy  that  reached  the  heavens  before, 
Shrinks  to  her  hidden  source,  and  is  no  more." 

The  iron  rule  of  feudalism  followed,  and  the  last 
vestiges  of  freedom  seemed  ready  to  be  swept  away. 
The  sons  of  liberty  fled  for  safety  to  the  fastnesses  of 
the  mountains,  and  there  waited,  in  a  virtuous  poverty, 
the  developments  of  Providence.  But  contrary  to  all 
hope,  the  brazen  womb  of  feudalism  gave  birth  to  a 
sense  of  personal  independence  which,  in  connection 
with  the  ideas  imparted  to  the  people  by  the  form  of 
society  organized  by  the  Christian  church,  tended  pow- 
erfully to  break  down  the  government  of  despotic  lords, 
and  by  degrees  to  introduce  a  more  liberal  system  of 
civil  institutions.  At  length,  what  Guizot  calls  "  the 
spirit  of  municipality,"  began  to  increase  the  intelli- 
gence and  power  of  the  masses,  and  to  awaken  their 


ORATION.  71 

aspiration  for  a  larger  liberty.  Guttenburg  invented 
the  art  of  printing,  and  the  Turks  drove  the  learned 
Greeks  from  old  Byzantium.  Consequent  upon  these 
events,  there  was  a  general  fomentation  of  public  sen- 
timent ;  the  love  of  letters  revived,  and  the  Reformation 
followed.  The  spirit  of  adventure  and  discovery,  too, 
awoke,  and  man  seemed  to  be  advancing  rapidly  to  the 
realization  of  a  better  condition,  —  to  something  of  po- 
litical security  and  encouragement. 

But  just  at  the  moment  when  men  were  in  the  act  of 
securing  political  freedom,  the  swiftest  and  most  terrible 
scourge  ever  invented  by  the  demon  of  oppression  inter- 
vened and  blasted  their  hope.  Standing  armies,  in  the 
pay  and  interest  of  the  king,  were  created.  The  proud 
barons  were  humbled  by  this  fearful  force,  we  must 
allow,  but,  as  feudalism  went  down,  kingship  passed 
into  the  ascendant,  and  the  rights  of  the  people  seemed 
lost  forever.  It  is  difficult  to  discover  how  political  ser- 
vitude could  ever  have  been  dislodged  from  its  strong- 
holds had  not  the  great  Genoese  mariner,  whose  life 
and  death  are  the  saddest  of  historic  tragedies,  opened, 
under  the  leadings  of  Providence,  an  outlet  to  the  op- 
pressed from  this  dungeon  of  tyranny. 

In  England,  the  people  had  wrested  a  few  privileges 
from  the  throne,  and  still  feebly  claimed  the  rights  of 
freemen,  not  as  the  inalienable  prerogative  of  birth,  but 
upon  the  ground  of  precedent  and  authority.  As  a 
class,  however,  they  were  subdued  and  trampled  upon 
by  the  iron  heel  of  the  government  and  the  privileged 
orders.  At  this  critical  period,  religious  intolerance 
and  political  power  united  their  forces,  both  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent,  and,  as  if  impelled  into  madness 


72  ORATION.       • 

by  secret  and  mysterious  impulses,  worked  all  the  en- 
gines of  oppression,  till  they  pushed  into  hopeless  exile 
the  Puritans  of  England,  the  Germans  of  the  Palatinate, 
and  the  devout  Huguenots  of  France.  For  such  men, 
the  last  best  product  of  many  ages,  God  reserved  a 
country  broad  and  rich,  beyond  the  sea,  far  removed 
from  the  corrupting  influences,  the  thwarting  prejudi- 
ces, and  giant  tyrannies  of  the  old  world.  The  circum- 
stances are  significant.  The  overruling  power  which 
moves  in  history  has  ordered  events ;  and  the  feeble 
colonies  thus  driven  into  the  wilderness  by  the  hand  of 
power,  infold  the  great  Christian  nation  which  is  to  suc- 
ceed. But  they  are  not  yet  prepared  to  enter  upon  their 
special  mission.  A  century  and  a  half  of  pupilage  must 
intervene.  A  people  must  be  made  strong  and  self- 
reliant  by  the  neglect  of  the  home  government,  by  the 
long  and  relentless  Indian  wars ;  by  the  self-denial  of 
the  wilderness  and  the  hardships  of  colonial  life.  Their 
views  must  be  matured  by  the  logic  of  experience  and 
their  power  increased  by  numbers. 

A  train  of  events  and  a  succession  of  causes  ordered 
by  Him  "  who  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  deter- 
mined the  times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of 
their  habitation,"  prepared  them  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  the  State  on  the  secure  basis  of  learning  and  religion. 
Bitter  persecutions  and  a  narrow  inheritance  of  worldly 
blessings,  had  driven  them  to  a  profound  meditation 
upon  the  government  of  God  as  revealed  in  his  word, 
and  to  an  earnest  study  of  the  import  and  teachings  of 
history.  The  divine  oracles  and  history  taught  them 
that  absolute,  hereditary  rulers  and  privileged  orders 


ORATION.  73 

served  rather  to  perpetuate  abuses,  than  to  conserve  the 
welfare  of  society ;  that  government  and  social  institu- 
tions were  not  safe  in  their  hands,  even  when  guarded 
by  the  severest  checks.  They  themselves  were  now  en- 
tering upon  scenes  in  which,  if  not  they,  their  children 
would  learn  that  the  rightful  source  of  power  is,  under 
God,  the  will  of  the  governed ;  that  the  welfare  of  so- 
ciety can  more  safely  be  entrusted  to  the  wisdom  and 
discretion  of  an  educated  and  moral  people  than  to  the 
hazards  of  birth  under  any  form  of  kingly  rule. 

Royal  families  may  degenerate ;  may  become  selfish 
and  unscrupulous  ;  may  seek  for  personal  ends  in  con- 
flict with  the  public  interest ;  or,  if  the  worst  does  not 
happen,  may  be  outstripped  by  the  people  in  the  march 
of  ideas  and  intelligence,  and  then  endless  conflicts  and 
sorrows  will  succeed.  But  when  the  people  make  and 
administer  their  own  institutions,  they  are  flexible,  and 
advance  or  change  to  meet  the  shifting  phases  of  society. 
Collisions  are  thus  prevented,  and  freedom  given  to  en- 
terprise and  thrift  to  multiply  their  resources.  The 
aspirations  of  men  are  not  baffled  and  turned  into  forces 
of  revenge  and  destruction,  but  encouraged  and  kept 
healthful  by  the  prospects  of  reward.  The  majority 
are  rendered  contented  and  hopeful  while  prosperity  and 
intelligence  widen  with  the  advancing  years  and  strength 
of  the  nation.  In  the  little  provincial  assemblies  which 
grew  up  under  their  charters,  the  colonists  learned  to 
legislate  and  to  provide  for  emergencies.  There,  too, 
they  discovered  the  value  of  great  principle  of  repre- 
sentation, which  has  completely  regenerated  political 
science  and  practice,  and  almost  made  that  a  necessity  to 

the  moderns  which  was  an  impossibility  to  the  ancients. 
10 


74  ORATION. 

"  The  patria,"  says  the  profound  jurist,  Horace  Bin- 
ney,  "of  us  moderns  ought  to  consist  in  a  wide  land 
covered  by  a  nation,  and  not  in  a  city  or  little  colony. 
Mankind  have  outgrown  the  ancient-city  state.  Coun- 
tries are  the  orchards  and  the  broad  acres  where  modern 
civilization  gathers  her  grain  and  nutritious  fruits. 
The  narrow  garden  beds  of  antiquity  suffice  for  our 
widened  humanity  no  more  than  the  short  existence  of 
ancient  states.  Moderns  stand  in  need  of  nations  and 
of  national  longevity,  for  their  literature  and  law,  their 
industry,  liberty,  and  patriotism ;  we  want  countries  to 
work  and  write  and  glow  for,  to  live  and  die  for.  The 
sphere  of  humanity  has  steadily  widened,  and  nations 
alone  can  now-a-days  acquire  the  membership  of  that 
commonwealth  of  our  race  which  extends  over  Europe 
and  America." 

In  the  small  assemblies  of  the  town,  the  province, 
and  the  church,  our  fathers  were  educated,  and  pre- 
pared to  found  and  become  the  rulers  of  a  great  govern- 
ment. Slowly  through  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  grew 
up  a  coldness  of  feeling  and  an  antagonism  of  princi- 
ples between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country. 
The  separation,  sooner  or  later,  was  inevitable ;  and 
when  at  last  the  struggle  came,  how  thoroughly  it  was 
founded  upon  principle,  and  with  what  religious  for- 
titude is  was  conducted  we  all  know.  I  need  not  re- 
hearse the  familiar  story  of  the  Revolution.  The  names 
of  its  battle-fields  are  household  words.  I  need  not 
speak  of  those  who  were  slain  in  the  conflict,  like  the 
beauty  of  Israel  on  their  high  places  ;  nor  of  those  who 
have  since  fallen  on  sleep  and  been  borne  to  their  graves 
amid  the  tears  and  honors  of  a  grateful  posterity.  But 


ORATION.  7O 

when  the  war  had  successfully  terminated,  a  more  diffi- 
cult and  delicate  task,  and  one  demanding  rarer  quali- 
ties of  intellect  and  of  heart,  remained  to  be  performed. 
The  country  emerged  from  the  war  exhausted  and  de- 
spondent. Its  treasury  was  bankrupt  and  its  credit  had 
perished.  Wanting  resources  to  defray  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  government,  they  felt  the  burden  of  an 
overwhelming  debt.  Without  being  able  to  protect 
themselves  by  a  navigation  law,  they  saw  their  ports 
crowded  with  foreign  ships.  The  armed  hostility  of 
England  was  only  held  at  bay  by  the  peace  which  she  had 
been  compelled  to  make,  while  the  old  Confederacy  was 
too  weak  to  command  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
people.  Congress  had  no  authority  to  lay  imposts  or 
other  taxes,  and  the  State  neglected  the  requisitions  of  a 
general  government  that  possessed  no  coercive  power 
but  that  of  war.  The  Confederacy  of  1781  had  signally- 
failed  as  a  system  of  national  government.  The  people 
of  the  whole  country  were  compelled  to  replace  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  by  an  instrument  which  should 
give  the  power  of  raising  revenue  and  of  enforcing  the 
obedience  of  the  States.  In  a  word,  a  national  govern- 
ment which  should  reach  the  people,  in  place  of  the  old 
league  of  states,  became  a  necessity  of  the  times.  A 
constitution  must  be  framed  and  a  government  organ- 
ized which  should  bring  order  and  prosperity  out  of 
this  political  chaos.  This,  too,  must  be  accomplished 
by  a  government  founded  not  on  force,  but  on  justice 
and  the  common  consent  of  the  governed.  Neither 
"  precedent"  nor  the  dogma  of  a  "divine right"  could 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  organic  law ;  but  the  new 
and  untried  doctrine  of  natural  freedom  and  political 


76  ORATION. 

equality  must  determine  its  form  and  character.  Law 
was  to  be  made  majestic  and  efficient,  not  by  a  standing 
army,  but  by  the  intelligence  and  moral  convictions  of 
society.  A  government  that  should  be  able  to  defend 
the  rights  and  protect  the  interests  of  a  great  people  in 
all  future  time,  was  to  be  organized,  with  delegated 
powers,  for  a  family  of  sovereign  States,  which  should 
be  able  to  bind  them  in  a  perpetual  union  and  yet  leave 
them  independent  of  each  other,  within  broad  limits. 
Who  has  the  wisdom  and  courage  for  such  a  task? 

The  ability  and  success  with  which  the  Convention 
of  1787  fulfilled  the  duty  devolved  upon  it  by  Provi- 
dence, may  be  seen  in  the  encomiums  of  statesmen  and 
historians,  and  in  the  constantly  augmenting  power  and 
prosperity  of  the  nation  thus  made  one,  by  the  Consti- 
tution they  framed.  With  a  sublime  trust  in  man  and 
in  the  God  of  nations,  they  committed  life,  liberty,  prop- 
erty, and  the  development  of  the  material  and  moral 
resources  of  a  great  country,  to  the  protection  and  en- 
couragement of  laws  to  be  made  and  administered  by 
the  people  themselves.  With  what  reverent  awe  and 
love  do  we  turn  to  gaze  upon  the  cluster  of  great  names 
that  then  ascended  the  political  heavens.  Their  glory 
shall  never  be  dimmed  in  the  circling  years  of  human 
history. 

But  we  are  now  told  in  these  days  of  rebellion  and 
treason,  that  the  venerated  Constitution  which  has  en- 
dured the  varied  and  complicated  tests  of  three  quarters 
of  a  century  ;  which  has  drawn  to  it  the  admiration  and 
envy  of  foreign  nations  ;  which  has  been  a  model  and  a 
standard  for  the  organic  law  of  regenerated  nationali- 
ties ;  before  which  the  ablest  of  our  dead  and  living 


ORATION.  77 

statesmen  have  bowed  with  obedient  admiration,  and 
on  the  defence  of  which  the  peerless  and  majestic  intel- 
lect of  our  own  Webster  rested  its  claim  to  the  lasting 
gratitude  and  memory  of  mankind  ;  this  instrument,  we 
are  told,  is  simply  a  bond  of  copartnership  between  sov- 
ereign States  to  continue  during  pleasure,  and  liable 
to  be  rendered  null  and  void  at  the  whim  of  either 
party  to  the  contract.  But  where  can  the  record  be 
found  to  justify  so  treasonable  a  sentiment?  Hamilton, 
one  of  the  great  architects  of  the  Constitution,  in  urg- 
ing reasons  for  its  adoption  in  place  of  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  says  in  language  of  singular  power  and 
purity,  "  The  fabric  of  American  Empire  ought  to  rest 
on  the  solid  basis  of  THE  CONSENT  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  The 
streams  of  national  power  ought  to  flow  immediately 
from  that  pure  original  fountain  of  all  legitimate  au- 
thority." Listen  also  to  the  language  of  Pinckney,  the 
distinguished  soldier  and  statesman  of  South  Carolina, 
in  her  best  days.  Speaking  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence in  the  legislature  of  1788,  he  says,  "This 
admirable  manifesto  sufficiently  refutes  the  doctrine 
of  the  individual  sovereignty  and  independence  of  the 
several  States.  In  that  Declaration  the  several  States 
are  not  even  enumerated.  The  separate  independ- 
ence and  individual  sovereignty  of  the  several  States 
were  never  thought  of  by  the  enlightened  band  of 
patriots  who  framed  this  Declaration.  The  several 
States  are  not  even  mentioned  by  name  in  any  part, 
as  if  it  was  intended  to  impress  the  maxim  on  America 
that  our  freedom  and  independence  arose  from  our 
union ;  and  that  without  it,  we  never  could  be  free 
or  independent.  Let  us  then  consider  all  attempts  to 


78  ORATION. 

weaken  this  Union  by  maintaining  that  each  State  is 
separately  and  individually  independent,  as  a  species  of 
political  heresy  which  can  never  benefit  us,  but  may 
bring  us  the  most  serious  distress."  Even  the  Articles 
of  the  old  Confederation  are  styled,  in  the  title,  Articles 
of  Confederation  and  perpetual  union  of  the  States.  The 
preservation  of  the  Union  was  one  of  the  objects  speci- 
fied in  the  resolution  passed  by  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress, February  21,  1787,  recommending  a  convention 
of  delegates  to  form  a  more  perfect  government;  and 
when  that  convention  met  "  to  form,"  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Constitution,  "a  more  perfect  union,"  think 
you  it  would  have  provided  for  anything  short  of  a  per- 
petual union?  Did  its  members  deceive  themselves 
with  words  without  meaning,  and  leave  undone  the 
very  thing  they  had  met,  under  a  solemn  and  impera- 
tive sense  of  duty,  to  do  ?  The  necessity  of  establish- 
ing a  national  government  was  the  hackneyed  theme  of 
every  debate  of  the  constitutional  convention.  If  the 
Constitution  tacitly  concedes  the  right  of  secession, 
then  the  fathers  of  the  republic  placed  in  the  very  in- 
strument designed  to  perpetuate  our  national  existence, 
the  seeds  of  self-destruction.  Did  Washington  and  Ham- 
ilton and  Madison  and  the  other  great  men  in  that  re- 
splendent catalogue  of  immortal  names,  thus  trifle  with 
history  and  deceive  posterity  ?  None  but  shameless  and 
degenerate  children  would  tarnish  the  fame  of  their 
great  ancestors  with  the  foul  imputation. 

The  father  of  his  country  anticipated,  in  his  farewell 
address,  the  fearful  crime  which  has  come  to  pass. 
"  The  unity  of  government,"  he  says,  "  which  consti- 
tutes you  one  people  is  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly 


ORATION.  79 

so ;  for  it  is  a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  in- 
dependence, the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home, 
your  peace  abroad,  of  your  safety,  of  your  prosperity, 
of  that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize."  He 
then  warns,  with  prophetic  language,  against  those 
who  would  "  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  "  which  bind  us 
together.  If  we  have  a  government  in  any  true  sense, 
it  is  a  government  of  powers  delegated  by  the  people 
in  their  entirety,  not  by  States.  The  simple  but  sub- 
lime language  of  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution  is, 
"  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form 
a  more  perfect  union,"  not  we  the  sovereign  States. 
The  States  were  not  parties  to  the  contract,  and  hence 
possess  no  sovereignty  which  is  able  to  override  that 
which  is  made  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  by  the  will 
of  the  people,  the  primal  source  of  law.  State  rights 
move  upon  a  subordinate  plane.  If  the  doctrine  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  that  "  each  State  has  an  equal  right  to  judge 
for  itself,  as  well  of  the  infraction  as  of  the  mode  and 
measure  of  redress"  of  constitutional  rights,  had  been 
recognized  by  the  fathers,  the  Union  would  have 
perished  at  the  outset.  Occasions  and  pretexts  must 
have  arisen  which  would  inevitably  have  subverted  the 
government  in  its  infancy.  Constitutions  do  not  pro- 
vide for  their  own  destruction.  Secession  is  usurpa- 
tion and  revolution,  and  nothing  else.  The  Union,  not 
the  States,  possesses  imperial  attributes.  It  makes 
war  and  peace ;  it  holds  the  purse  and  the  sword ;  it 
makes  treaties  and  regulates  foreign  commerce  ;  it  im- 
poses taxes  and  administers  justice.  The  Union  alone 
is  represented  and  recognized  at  foreign  courts. 

Unless  the  Saxon  language  is  a  chain'  of  riddles,  the 


80  ORATION. 

Union  is  a  government  de  facto,  and  can  only  be  de- 
stroyed by  revolution.  Concede  the  right  of  secession 
and  you  concede  the  right  to  disband  the  government, 
with  all  its  obligations  at  home  and  abroad,  with  all  its 
glorious  history  and  all  its  fearful  responsibility  to  pos- 
terity. You  concede  the  right  to  disorganize  society, 
and  expose  it  to  the  fearful  evils  of  unrestrained  pas- 
sion. The  dogma  is  a  hideous  fiction  by  which  political 
thieves  and  traitors,  who  are  seeking  to  bear  away  the 
palladium  from  the  citadel  of  liberty,  would  cover  and 
dignify  their  treachery.  It  is  the  specious  pretext  of 
the  disciples  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  have  been  plotting 
for  thirty  years  to  overthrow  the  government. 

Listen  to  the  language  of  Edward  Everett,  the  patriot 
scholar  of  New  England.  Speaking  of  his  public  pol- 
icy, he  says  :  "  I  pursued  this  course  for  the  sake  of 
strengthening  the  hands  of  patriotic  Union  men  at  the 
South,  although  I  was  well  aware,  partly  from  facts  within 
my  personal  knowledge,  that  leading  Southern  politicians 
had  for  thirty  years  been  resolved  to  break  up  the  Union, 
as  soon  as  they  ceased  to  control  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, and  that  the  slavery  question  was  but  a  pretext 
for  keeping  up  agitation  and  rallying  the  South." 

During  all  this  time  they  have  been  secretly  mar- 
shalling their  forces,  demoralizing  the  army  and  navy, 
exhausting  the  treasury,  perverting  history,  calumni- 
ating the  North,  abusing  the  Union,  and  preparing  for 
this  carnival  of  treason  and  blood.  They  have  even 
precipitated  the  issue,  for  they  well  knew  that  delay 
would  destroy  their  flimsy  pretext.  The  only  true  ac- 
count which  can  be  given  of  this  war  is  that  the  South, 
which  has  hel'd  the  government  for  thirty  years,  has  at 


ORATION.  81 

length  been  legally  and  constitutionally  outvoted  by  the 
North.  No  man  worthy  of  any  consideration  pretends 
that  they  have  any  legitimate  reason  for  rebellion.  They 
cannot  claim  the  rare  right  of  revolution,  for  their  per- 
sons and  their  property  too  have  always  been  secure  un- 
der this  most  beneficent  of  human  governments.  Even 
the  distinguished  Vice-President  of  this  factitious  con- 
federacy, the  ablest  and  manliest  traitor  of  them  all, 
acknowledges  that  the  Constitution  —  the  work  as  well 
of  the  South  as  of  the  North  —  has  never  been  vio- 
lated. 

And  what  to-day  is  our  attitude  before  the  civilized 
world  ?  In  a  time  of  profound  peace  and  prosperity, 
when  the  eyes  of  admiring  nations  were  turned  upon 
us  with  envy,  and  the  arms  of  struggling  patriots  in 
Italy  and  Hungary  were  stretched  to  us  for  succor  from 
over  the  sea,  the  mad  ambition  of  a  few  sectional  poli- 
ticians has  plunged  us  into  a  fratricidal  war  that  threat- 
ens our  very  existence,  and  strikes  at  the  last  best  hope 
of  a  Christian  civilization.  Even  tyrants  are  astonished 
at  the  madness  and  folly  which  would  throw  away  so 
rich  an  inheritance. 

Have  we  mistaken  the  purposes  of  the  God  of  na- 
tions in  planting  the  colonies  ;  in  conducting  them,  like 
Israel  of  old,  through  the  wilderness  ;  in  raising  up  to 
them  friends ;  in  leading  them,  with  an  outstretched 
arm  through  wars  and  perils,  and  in  blessing  them  at 
length  with  peace  till  they  have  become  a  great  peo- 
ple ?  Were  the  Christian  heroism,  and  the  blood 
poured  out  like  water,  in  the  Revolution,  all  in  vain  ? 
Were  the  wisdom  and  moderation  of  the  men  who 
made  the  Constitution  of  no  permanent  use  ?  The 
11 


82  ORATION. 

prayers  of  the  fathers  and  their  children,  were  they 
vain  oblations "?  Is  this  grand  superstructure  of  insti- 
tutions, whose  base  rests  upon  the  political  equality  of 
man,  whose  pillars  rise  from  eternal  justice,  and  whose 
guardians  are  learning  and  religion,  to  be  toppled 
down  as  easily  as  the  puny  structure  of  a  child  by  the 
breath  of  passion  or  the  behests  of  slavery  ?  No  !  — 
thank  God,  the  "  mud  sills  "  are  not  rotten  ;  the  foun- 
dations stand  secure ! 

When  the  cry  of  treason  and  the  call  for  help,  sweep- 
ing along  the  margin  of  the  Atlantic,  flying  through  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  leaping  the  Alleghanies, 
fell  upon  the  startled  yeomanry  of  the  North  and  West, 
invoking  the  blessing  of  heaven  upon  mother,  wife,  and 
child,  they  flew  with  the  swiftness  of  eagles  and  the 
strength  of  lions  to  the  defence  of  the  Capital.  As  of 
old,  the  plane  was  left  upon  the  bench,  the  plough  in 
the  furrow,  the  goods  upon  the  counter,  and  the  brief 
in  court,  and  to-day  the  men  of  all  professions  mingle 
in  the  camp  and  share  together  the  hardships  and 
dangers  of  a  border  warfare  ;  and,  when  the  hour  of 
deadly  conflict  shall  come,  they  will  stand  side  by  side 
and  fall  together,  teaching  their  children  the  great  les- 
son of  liberty  which  the  accidents  of  trade  and  the  for- 
tunes of  peace  have  will  nigh  obliterated,  that  the  rich 
and  poor  stand  as  peers  in  the  law  of  nature. 

In  the  great  centres  of  trade,  a  small  party  may  pos- 
sibly be  found  who  hesitate  and  draw  back  from  a 
hearty  support  of  the  war  from  prudential  considera- 
tions. But  we  would  ask,  is  civil  liberty  and  all  gran- 
deur of  national  character  to  be  sacrificed?  Is  the 
cause  of  civilization  and  humanity  to  be  abandoned, 


ORATION.  83 

lest  business  should  be  disorganized  and  capital  divert- 
ed from  the  natural  channels  of  trade  ?  If  the  pros- 
perity of  the  nation  must  perish,  we  will  acknowl- 
edge no  responsibility  in  its  destruction.  The  govern- 
ment waited  the  return  of  reason  and  the  triumph  of 
patriotism  till  the  spirit  of  rebellion  had  rifled  the 
treasury  and  well  nigh  emptied  the  armories  of  the 
country  ;  till  it  had  trampled  upon  the  Constitution 
and  inaugurated  the  reign  of  treason. 

The  war  has  been  forced  upon  us  wickedly  and 
without  cause,  and  there  is  no  alternative  but  to  pros- 
ecute it  without  compromise  or  wavering  till  the  trai- 
tors lay  down  their  arms  and  acknowledge  the  rightful 
authority  of  the  government. 

The  South  may  make  rules  to  regulate  its  slaveocracy, 
and  we  will  not  interfere  ;  but  it  shall  never  dictate 
laws  and  principles  of  action  to  twenty  millions  of  free- 
men. If  the  manufactures,  the  commerce,  and  the  ag- 
riculture of  the  land  are  annihilated  in  the  struggle,  we 
shall  leave  to  our  posterity  the  means  of  future  wealth, 
the  legacy  of  a  noble  ancestry,  and  a  free  government. 
By  the  help  of  God  they  shall  not  be  the  children  of 
slaves.  If  the  flower  of  this  generation  must  fall  upon 
the  field  of  strife  and  lie  down  to  rest  in  a  bloody 
shroud,  the  ashes  of  their  sires  will  bid  them  welcome 
to  their  honored  graves  and  their  great  inheritance  of 
fame.  They  will  link  their  names  with  those  who  fell 
at  Concord  and  at  Yorktown,  and  their  memory  will  be 
as  imperishable  as  the  eternal  hills  that  gird  our  gran- 
ite home. 

You  and  I  have  read,  with  throbbing  hearts  and 
tearful  eyes,  of  the  thrilling  events  of  other  days,  and 


84  ORATION. 

have  regretted  that  the  lines  had  not  fallen  to  us  in 
those  great  epochs  of  history.  Do  we  realize  that  our 
half-breathed  prayer  has  been  answered  in  a  way  we 
anticipated  not"?  Do  we  realize  that  each  day  of  the 
passing  year,  on  the  very  soil  we  tread,  is  making  his- 
tory more  grand  and  significant  than  was  ever  recorded 
by  the  hand  of  Thucidydes  or  Prescott  1 

Our  incredulity  has  been  so  strengthened  by  the 
false  cry  of  danger  from  the  party  press  in  each  politi- 
cal canvass  which  has  swept  the  country,  that  we  are 
slow  to  recognize  the  magnitude  of  the  crisis  which  at 
last  has  fallen  upon  us.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand of  our  brothers  have  gone  forth  from  their  com- 
fortable homes,  and  are  to-day  marching  and  counter- 
marching beneath  a  burning  sun.  The  hazards  and 
hardships  of  war  weigh  heavily  upon  them  ;  and  while 
they  stand  on  the  slippery  edge  of  battle  their  hearts 
are  far  away  with  the  loved  ones  on  the  northern  hills 
and  western  plains.  They  need  our  sympathy  and  our 
cordial  support.  Let  us  not  question  our  convenience, 
but  our  ability  in  furnishing  every  comfort  which  can 
alleviate  the  horrors  of  war  to  those  brave  youth  and 
noble  men,  who  are  fighting  for  the  maintenance  of 
good  government  and  national  freedom  ;  fighting  to 
perpetuate  the  glory  and  the  protection  which  our 
fathers  fought  to  establish. 

The  novelty  of  danger  has  passed  by,  and  there  is  a 
momentary  lull  in  the  enthusiasm  which  for  a  time  lifted 
the  whole  people  above  the  prejudices  of  party  and  the 
lust  of  gain,  and  presented  to  the  world  the  sublime 
and  inspiring  spectacle  of  a  great  nation  pausing  in  its 
career  of  power  and  prosperity  to  reassert  an  abstract 


ORATION.  85 

principle  lying  at  the  foundation  of  modern  States. 
Here  and  there  in  this  temporary  lull,  a  miscreant  soul, 
covering  its  inherent  meanness  with  the  shallow  pre- 
text of  moderation,  cries  peace,  and  with  traitorous 
intent  seeks  to  weaken  the  arm  upon  which  Providence 
has  devolved  the  duty  of  defending  our  homes  and 
our  liberties.  They  complain  of  the  violation  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  usurpation  of  power  by  the  gov- 
ernment, forgetting  that,  if  the  accusation  were  true, 

"  Salus  populi  est  lex  suprema." 

Prudence  may  dictate  that  these  home-bred  sympathizers 
with  treason  should  be  endured  for  a  time. 

"  Durum !  sed  levius  fit  patientia, 
Quidquid  corrigere  est  nefas." 

What  do  these  gentlemen  wish  ?  Would  they  have 
the  descendants  of  the  Puritans  sell  their  birthright  for 
a  mess  of  pottage  ?  Would  they  have  our  institutions 
and  principles  exposed  for  sale  at  the  brokers'  board, 
and  quoted  on  exchange  ?  Do  they  desire  us  to  stand 
with  our  arms  folded  till  the  call  of  the  slave-roll  is 
heard  on  Bunker  Hill,  and  our  children  are  seen  to 
crawl,  poverty-stricken  and  hopeless,  on  the  battle-fields 
where  sleep  the  ashes  of  our  sainted  dead  ?  But  let  us 
not  trouble  ourselves  with  these  ephemeral  insects. 
They  will  perish  with  their  brief  hour. 

The  spirit  of  the  nation  will  soon  move  with  a  deeper 
and  more  irresistible  flow,  sweeping  over  the  plains, 
rising  above  the  hills,  and  pouring  through  the  gorges 
of  the  mountains,  bearing  thousands  more  of  our  brave 
men  to  the  field  of  strife. 

The  great  inheritance  of  liberties,  baptized  with  the 


86  ORATION. 

blood  of  our  fathers,  and  still  guarded  —  may  we  not 
believe  —  by  their  saintly  presence,  can  never  be  given 
to  traitors.  Wherever,  throughout  the  wide  domain 
of  the  Republic,  men  shall  gather  to  this  national  jubi- 
lee to  awaken  fond  reminiscences  and  to  pay  a  grate- 
ful tribute  to  their  sires,  a  more  fervent  spirit  of  patriot- 
ism will  be  enkindled,  and  the  solemn  vow  of  loyalty 
to  the  Union  will  be  renewed.  The  righteous  wrath 
of  outraged  freemen  will  deepen  month  by  month,  so 
long  as  the  proud  old  banner  that  waved  on  the  battle- 
fields of  the  Revolution,  that  drooped  over  the  graves 
of  our  fathers,  and  beneath  whose  ample  folds  their 
children  have  found  peace  and  prosperity,  shall  be  torn 
and  insulted  by  traitors. 

This  last  struggle  of  liberty  may  yet  prove  the  grand- 
est in  the  issue.  It  will  doubtless  develop  in  its  pro- 
gress, new  and  difficult  problems  to  be  solved  by  a  pru- 
dent application  of  the  settled  principles  of  political 
science.  They  should  be  decided  calmly  and  wisely, 
but  constantly  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  good  gov- 
ernment, and  a  Christian  civilization. 

A  little  while,  and  the  selfishness  of  trade  and  the 
meanness  of  party  will  be  consumed ;  a  little  longer, 
and  the  foul  plague  in  the  veins  of  the  government  will 
be  purged  away  forever  ;  and  when  the  nation  rises  up 
with  a  new  and  nobler  life,  we  shall  learn  that  "  man's 
extremity  was  God's  opportunity."  When  the  end  of 
this  war  shall  come,  be  it  soon  or  late,  it  will  be  found 
worth  the  sacrifices  we  have  made  —  such  as  will  tend 
to  promote  human  freedom  and  the  civilization  of  the 
world. 

"  Esta  perpetua"  may  still  stand  upon  the  Constitu- 


ORATION.  87 

tion,  for  soon  the  earth  will  tremble  with  a  heavier 
tramp  of  armies,  sent  forth  from  our  peaceful  homes 
with  the  prayers  of  mothers  and  the  benediction  of 
fathers. 

"  The  angel  of  God's  blessing 
Encamps  with  Freedom  on  the  field  of  fight ; 
Still  to  her  banner,  day  by  day  are  pressing, 
Unlooked-for  allies,  striking  for  the  right ; 
Courage,  then,  Northern  hearts  —  Be  firm,  be  true ! " 


CENTENNIAL  AND  PATRIOTIC  CELEBRATION. 


JULY  4th,  1861,  the  town  of  Lebanon  was  one  hundred  years  old. 
Invitations  had  been  sent  to  those  who  had  gone  from  the  town  to  return 
and  unite  with  the  people  of  the  town,  in  celebrating  the  day.  A  large 
number,  considering  the  state  of  the  country,  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  came  once  more  to  the  place  of  their  birth,  renewing  old  acquaint- 
ances and  reviving  many  pleasant  memories  of  the  past. 

If  we  had  been  permitted  to  make  our  selection  from  all  the  fair  days 
of  the  calendar,  we  could  scarcely  have  suited  ourselves  better.  The 
day  was  cloudless ;  abundant  rains  had  insured  us  against  dust.  Per- 
haps we  should  have  inserted  a  few  whiffs  from  the  North  Pole  to  cool 
the  air  a  little ;  but  then  we  remembered  that  the  heat  was  good  for 
corn,  and  it  served  to  remind  us  of  the  endurances  of  our  soldiers  at 
the  South,  and  stir  our  sympathy  for  them. 

The  day  was  ushered  in  by  a  salute  of  thirteen  guns,  fired  by  a  squad 
of  nine  cadets  from  Norwich  University,  under  the  command  of  Capt. 
A.  B.  Hutchinson. 

These  cadets  did  good  service  during  the  day,  displayed  high  skill  as 
artillerists,  and  won  respect  by  their  gentlemanly  conduct. 

The  parade  of  the  Horribles,  which  we  have  noticed  elsewhere,  was  a 
pleasant  feature  of  the  day. 

The  procession  was  formed  at  half-past  nine,  under  the  direction  of 
Capt.  E.  A.  Howe,  Chief  Marshal,  and  his  Assistants,  Messrs.  Shaw, 
Noyes,  and  Randlett.  Headed  by  the  Lebanon  Cornet  Band,  and  es- 
corted by  the  Mascoma  Engine  Company,  No.  2,  and  the  Franklin  Lodge 
of  Masons,  they  marched  around  the  Common  to  the  stand  for 
speaking. 

12 


90  CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION. 

EXERCISES   ON    THE    STAND. 

G.    II.    LATHROP,    ESQ.,    PRESIDENT    OF    THE    DAT. 

The  exercises  were  opened  by  a  fervent  prayer  by  Rev.  George  Storrs, 
from  New  York,  a  native  of  the  town,  and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the 
early  settlers.  2.  Singing  by  a  choir  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  J.  M. 
Perkins,  who,  during  the  day,  furnished  excellent  music.  3.  Historical 
Address  by  Rev.  D.  H.  Allen,  D.  D.,  of  Lane  Seminary,  Ohio,  a  native 
of  the  town.  4.  A  Poem  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Fay,  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
also  a  native  of  the  town.  5.  Reading  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence by  Hon.  A.  H.  Cragin.  6.  Oration  by  Prof.  J.  W.  Patterson, 
of  Dartmouth  College. 

At  the  close  of  the  exercises  on  the  stand,  the  procession  reformed 
and  marched  to  the  tent  prepared  for  the  collation.  When  the  head  of 
the  column  reached  the  place,  a  slight  contre  temps  occurred.  The  peo- 
ple were  ready,  but  the  dinner  was  not.  Time,  however,  soon  remedied 
this.  Nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty  took  their  seats  at  the  tables. 
Rev.  Dr.  Lord  implored  the  Divine  blessing.  Of  this  part  we  have 
only  to  say,  that  the  good  old  dietetic  rule  was  observed  "  to  leave  off 
hungry." 

TOASTS    AND    SPEECHES. 

Rev.  G.  W.  Bailey  acted  as  Toast  Master. 

1.  "  Our  Centennial  Birthday  —  with  all  its  pleasant  and  interesting 
associations." 

2.  "The  Fourth  of  July,  1761  —  Lebanon  a  houseless  wilderness; 
1776  —  her  noble  sons  rush  to  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  to  defend 
her  rights  ;   1861  — the  wilderness  has  budded  and  blossomed." 

The  third  toast  was  introduced  by  reading  a  letter  from  Barrett  Pot- 
ter, Esq.,  a  son  of  the  first  minister  of  the  town,  Rev.  Isaiah  Potter. 
Mr.  Potter  is  now  in  his  85th  year.  He  gave  at  the  close  of  his  letter 
the  following  toast  :  — 

3.  "  The   Early    Settlers   of  Lebanon  —  Silas   Waterman,   William 
Dana,  Charles  Hill,  William  Downer,  Levi  Hyde,  and  Nathaniel  Por- 
ter, the  pioneers  and  first  settlers  in  the  town  of  Lebanon,  who,  with 
subsequent  settlers  in  176S.  gathered  and  established  the  first  church 
therein,  and  1772  settled  Rev.  Isaiah  Potter,  the  first  ordained  minister 
in  said  town." 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.  91 

Responded  to  by  Rev.  George  Storrs,  who  said:  "  We  have  come  to 
our  native  town  once  more,  many  of  us  from  a  distance.  We  find  great 
changes.  We  find  an  improved  country,  forests  are  cleared  away,  new 
homes  have  sprung  up  We  find  new  modes  of  travel,  the  lightning-like 
speed  of  the  railroads.  It  was  not  so  with  our  fathers ;  they  came  by 
forest  paths,  "Upon  ox-sleds,  by  boats  on  the  river,  where  civilized  foot 
had  never  before  trod.  They  were  superior  men.  I  delight  to  recall 
their  memory.  Let  the  memory  of  our  fathers  be  blessed  ;  let  it  dwell 
in  our  minds.  They  came  not  only  to  plant  colonies,  not  only  to  better 
their  fortunes,  but  to  plant  temperance  and  religion  and  establish 
churches,  with  their  blessed  influences.  We  should  be  deeply  grateful 
to  them.  We  should  be  deeply  grateful  to  the  first  minister  of  the 
town,  for  his  labors  and  influence.  I  shall  never  forget  a  single  sen- 
tence that  fell  from  his  lips.  All  is  held  fast  in  my  memory.  When 
on  one  occasion  he  used  the  words  '  0  Ephraim,  how  shall  I  give  thee 
up,'  they  seemed  to  come  to  me  and  say,  '  0  George,  how  shall  I  give 
thee  up ! '  They  were  blessed  and  fruitful  words  in  me.  Honor  and 
success  followed  him.  Let  his  mantle  fall  upon  his  successors." 

4.  "  The  Sons  of  Lebanon,  at  home  and  abroad."  Responded  to  by 
Rev.  C.  H.  Fay,  who  said :  — 

"  I  am  to  speak  of  the  sons  absent  and  present.  It  is  not  a  poetical 
theme.  You  will  not  expect  me  to  speak  in  rhyme.  If  it  had  been  the 
daughters  of  Lebanon,  I  could  not  have  avoided  rhyme,  so  inspiring  is 
such  a  subject.  I  have  but  slight  knowledge  of  the  absent  sons.  I 
have  met  them  occasionally.  They  all  seem  to  be  doing  well,  to  bring 
credit  to  the  place  that  gave  them  birth.  You  have  a  good  specimen  of 
them  in  the  Orator  of  the  day.  Of  those  at  home,  what  shall  I  say  ? 
The  scene  before  me  reminds  me  of  the  progress  we  have  made  in  one 
cardinal  virtue  —  Temperance.  0,  those  old  Fourths  of  July  !  With 
their  wine,  and  spirits ;  and  women  banished  from  the  tables,  because 
they  were  not  fit  places  and  scenes  for  them.  But  now  we  find  wine 
banished,  and  women  admitted.  They  are  far  more  inspiring  than 
wine. 

"  Let  me  tell  you  a  story,  related  to  me  by  one  of  the  fathers,  show- 
ing the  advance  temperance  has  made  in  the  town,  and  how  they  man- 
aged in  the  old  times.  It  was  the  custom  for  a  neighborhood  to  select 
one  of  their  number  to  take  their  produce  to  market,  —  their  butter, 
cheese,  beef,  pork.  &c.  He  went  '  below '  (that  is.  to  Boston,)  for  the 


92  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 

rest.  If  successful,  he  was  gone  about  a  fortnight.  He  was  always 
commissioned  to  bring  back  a  cask  of  rum  or  brandy.  On  one  occasion 
a  number  of  neighbors  were  assembled  in  an  orchard.  It  was  in  the 
Jefferson  campaign  —  they  were  talking  politics.  Of  course  the  word 
federalist  occurred  frequently.  One  said  to  another,  when  he  had  at- 
tempted to  use  the  word,  '  What  do  you  say  fetherlist  foj^  —  why  don't 
you  say  feth — fetherlist  ? '  '0,  you  can't  say  it  yourself.  I  can  say 
fetherlist  as  well  as  you.'  Others  tried  the  word  with  about  the  same 
success.  After  testing  themselves  by  this  novel  shibboleth,  they  con- 
cluded that  they  were  not  quite  sober.  And  now  I  trust  that  you,  their 
sons,  will  always  be  able  to  say  federalist,  —  that  none  of  you  will  ever 
be  in  a  condition  to  say  fetheralist. 

"  Of  the  sons  at  home,  I  conceive  that  they  are  much  like  the  man's 
nigh  ox.  He  had  a  yoke  to  sell.  He  praised  the  off  one  highly,  and 
at  great  length.  Finally  the  purchaser  said,  '  Why  don't  you  say  some- 
thing of  the  nigh  ox  ? '  '  0,  he  can  speak  for  himself.' " 

5.  "To  those  who,  not  having  the  good  fortune  to  be  born  in  town, 
have  endeavored  to  retrieve  their  fortunes  by  taking  a  wife  who  was." 
Eesponded  to  by  Eev.  Dr.  Swain,  of  Providence,  E.  I.,  who  said  :  — 

"  I  am  one  of  the  unfortunates  not  born  in  Lebanon.  I  plead  guilty 
of  the  misfortune,  to  the  crime,  if  it  was  a  crime,  of  not  having  the  wis- 
dom to  be  born  here.  But  with  my  folly  I  have  mingled  wisdom,  for  I 
have  taken  a  wife  that  '  was.'  The  '  was'  -is  emphatic,  '  who  was  born 
here.'  But  I  have  some  pleas  to  offer  in  extenuation  of  my  misfortune, 
of  my  crime,  if  it  was  a  crime.  The  privileges  of  a  son-in-law  are  often 
found  to  be  greater  than  those  of  a  son.  My  misfortune  might  have 
been  greater,  for  if  I  did  not  have  the  good  fortune  to  be  born  in  Leb- 
anon, I  have  '  retrieved  my  fortune  by  taking  a  wife  who  was.'  I  might 
have  had  the  double  misfortune  of  not  being  born  here,  or  finding  '  a 
wife  who  was.'  So  I  have  mingled  good  with  evil,  wisdom  with  folly. 
In  these  days  of  secession,  let  me  say :  The  daughters  of  Lebanon,  '  the 
cedars  of  Lebanon,'  let  not  wife,  nor  mother,  nor  daughter  of  them  all, 
ever  be  found  a  se — cedar !  Let  them  love  and  defend  our  institutions 
to  the  last  generation.  May  their  posterity  equal  and  surpass  their 
ancestry." 

6.  "  The  Clergymen  of  Lebanon."    Eesponded  to  by  Eev.  Mr.  Case, 
of  West  Lebanon,  who  said  :  — 

"  This  at  least  merits  large  notice.     The  subject  is  an  extensive  one, 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.  93 

for  the  clergymen  were  many  ;  it  is  at  least  a  lofty  subject,  for  the  first 
three  ministers  of  the  town  taken  together  measured  some  inches  over 
eighteen  feet.  They  were  high  priests.  I  mention  it  as  a  significant 
fact,  that  the  clergymen  of  Lebanon  were  ever  devoted  to  temperance. 
Considering  the  customs  of  former  times,  it  is  wonderful  that  no  more 
ministers  fell  into  intemperance.  The  records  of  another  town  show 
that  in  a  population  of  six  hundred  and  forty,  forty  barrels  of  rum 
were  used  in  a  year,  besides  other  liquors.  Every  man  in  old  times 
would  think  himself  wanting  in  hospitality,  if  he  did  not  place  a  bottle 
before  the  minister  when  he  called.  Considering  their  temptations,  they 
escaped  wonderfully.  Of  the  ministers  of  Lebanon,  it  may  be  said  of 
them,  that  they  have  ever  been  loyal.  The  first  of  them  all  set  a  good 
example  to  the  rest.  For  when  the  country  was  struggling  for  inde- 
pendence, he  went  out  to  encourage  and  comfort  her  troops  as  a  chap- 
lain. He  was  a  strong  man.  A  little  story  will  show  this.  Passing 
through  the  camp  one  day,  he  saw  two  men  trying  to  lift  a  cannon. 
Taking  hold  of  it  alone,  he  easily  lifted  it  to  its  place.  One  of  the 
men,  in  his  astonishment,  let  slip  an  oath,  when  the  other  silenced  him 
by  telling  him  that  he  was  a  chaplain,  when  he  hastened  after  him  and 
begged  pardon  for  his  profanity. 

"  It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  in  the  first  records  of  the  town  we  trace 
their  anxiety  for  a  ministry  among  them.  It  shows  the  love  of  our 
fathers  for  these  institutions  which  have  so  much  to  do  with  our  pros- 
perity. Lebanon  ranks  high  in  the  number  and  quality  of  the  ministers 
she  has  raised  up.  About  thirty  have  gone  forth  from  her.  Among 
them  have  been  doctors  of  divinity,  who  have  made  their  mark  in  the 
world.  Others  have  found  and  filled  worthy  places  in  colleges  and  the- 
ological seminaries.  One  is  buried  in  a  foreign  land,  who  went  forth  as 
a  missionary  to  the  heathen.  Let  the  next  one  hundred  years  equal 
the  past." 

7.  "  The  Lawyers  of  Lebanon." 

Lebanon  has  not  been  very  fruitful  in  this  class,  and  none  were  found 
to  respond. 

8.  "  Dr.  Phineas  Parkhurst,  and  the  Physicians  of  Lebanon."     Ee- 
sponded  to  by  Dr  Dixi  Crosby,  who  said  :  — 

"  Dr.  Parkhurst  was  born  in  Plainfield,  Conn.  Early  in  life  he  re- 
moved to  Royalton.  Like  other  young  men  he  went  a  courting,  and 
stayed  on  one  occasion  to  breakfast.  During  the  meal  he  saw  Indians 


94  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 

approaching.  He  immediately  went  out  and  caught  the  Narragansett 
mare,  and  helping  his  lady-love  and  her  mother  to  mount,  got  up  behind 
them,  and  set  out  for  Connecticut  Eiver.  The  Indians  followed  and 
fired  upon  them,  wounding  Parkhurst,  the  ball  passing  through  from 
behind  and  lodging  in  the  skin  before.  He  seized  it  in  his  fingers  and 
held  it  till  he  arrived  in  West  Lebanon,  when  it  was  extracted  by  Dr. 
Hall.  This  incident  first  turned  the  thoughts  of  Parkhurst  to  the 
practice  of  medicine.  He  became  an  apprentice  of  Dr  Hall,  for  so 
they  termed  students  in  those  days.  In  due  time  he  began  to  practice, 
his  first  case  being  in  a  department  in  which  he  was  afterwards  very 
successful  —  obstetrics.  More  than  three  thousand  received  their  in- 
troduction into  the  world  by  him.  In  due  time  he  married  —  for  money 
it  is  supposed  —  the  portion  of  his  wife  consisting  of  one  cow,  three 
cups,  and  three  knives.  He  first  lived  in  West  Lebanon,  and  knew  what 
it  was  to  be  poor  —  often  with  but  two  shirts,  and  one  white  cravat,  to 
which  he  was  very  partial,  which  was  washed  over  night.  But  success 
and  prosperity  came  in  due  season. 

"  As  a  physician,  Dr.  Parkhurst  was  not  learned,  but  skilful  by  expe- 
rience. After  listening  on  one  occasion  to  the  learned  talk  of  some  of 
his  brethren,  he  said  :  '  I  am  much  gratified  with  all  I  have  heard  ;  I 
can't  talk,  but,  by  Judas,  I  can  practice  with  the  best  of  you  ! '  As  a 
physician,  he  was  skilful,  prompt,  self-denying,  always  ready  at  call, 
night  or  day,  in  cold  or  heat.  He  was  noted  for  his  unbounded  hospi- 
tality ;  the  string  was  ever  hanging  out  at  his  door.  He  was  the  father 
of  a  large  family  —  two  sons  and  nine  daughters.  He  exemplified  the 
great  precept  of  religion,  beneficence  towards  his  fellow-men.  Those 
who  have  succeeded  him  have  been  worthy  and  skilful  members  of  his 
profession." 

9.  "  Dartmouth  College  became  the  Alma  Mater  of  fifty- four  sons 
of  Lebanon."  Responded  to  by  President  Lord,  of  Dartmouth  College, 
who  said :  — 

"  A  respectable  clergyman  of  Hanover  was  asked  to  give  a  short  ex- 
tempore address.  He  replied  that  it  was  impossible ;  '  I  must  write 
everything.  WThy,  if  I  should  find  that  I  had  forgotten  to  write  amen 
at  the  close  of  my  sermon,  I  should  faint  away.'  I  am  very  much  like 
him.  Absurd  and  ridiculous  as  it  may  appear  (pulling  out  his  manu- 
script), I  must  resort  to  my  notes. 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.  95 

"  Mr.  President,  I  acknowledge  the  great  courtesy  which  gives  me 
this  occasion  to  commemorate  a  remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  Leba- 
non, viz  :  That  there  have  been  raised  up  fifty-four  sturdy  men,  each  of 
whom  was  born  of  two  mothers.  I  am  still  more  glad  to  say  that  these 
two  prolific  mothers  are  yet  in  their  bloom,  and  their  offspring  is  likely 
to  be  indefinitely  increased,  till  I  know  not  but  they  will  be  sufficient  to 
found  a  nation ;  particularly  as  these  remarkable  children  are  all  sons 
who  are  very  apt  to  marry  in  the  family.  At  least  the  sisters  find 
Swains  without  going  abroad  to  visit. 

"  But,  Mr.  President,  I  better  like  your  courtesy,  because  it  proves 
that  Lebanon  is  not  disposed  to  appropriate  all  the  honor  of  sending  out 
into  the  world  such  a  noble  company  of  educated  men.  The  natural 
mother  divides  credit  with  the  foster  mother  This  is  well,  and  speaks 
well  —  so  let  it  be.  What  Lebanon  has  brought  forth  Dartmouth  has 
nourished,  to  become  an  ornament  to  both  and  a  blessing  to  the  world. 

"  Mr.  President,  I  cannot  speak  from  book,  but  I  think  that  your 
good  town  of  Lebanon  must  have  produced  a  larger  number  of  educated 
men  than  any  other  town  of  our  educating  State.  I  will  not  even  ex- 
cept the  larger  commercial,  political,  and  manufacturing  towns.  But, 
however,  it  must  have  exceeded  other  towns  of  the  same  age  and  popu- 
lation. She  deserves  to  bear  the  banner,  and  I  trust  the  banner  will  be 
flung  here  to  the  breeze,  at  your  next  Centennial,  July  4th,  1961  —  in 
a  time  of  peace  and  glory,  inscribed  to  learning,  wisdom,  and  virtue  — 
the  guide  and  safety  of  the  State. 

"  Sir,  I  am  aware  that  every  man  who  happens  to  be  born  in  Leba- 
non and  educated  at  Dartmouth  does  not  thereby  necessarily  gain  for 
himself,  his  town,  or  college,  a  true  honor. 

"I  cannot  deem  that  Lebanon  or  Dartmouth,  or  any  other  town  or 
college  would  choose,  in  all  cases,  to  recognize  the  parental  relation.  I 
remember  what  happened  at  a  time,  when  I  was  a  boy.  A  young  man 
from  a  neighboring  town  was  sent  to  Harvard.  No  matter  what  his 
name  —  let  us  call  him  Simplon  He  proved  to  be  what  students  fre- 
quently make  a  subject  of  their  good-natured,  but  sometimes  extrava- 
gant sport.  His  father's  house  was  on  the  line  of  Kittery  and  York, 
and  that  line  bisected  it.  It  was  a  problem  at  Coll. ,  in  which  end  of  the 
house  Simplon  was  born,  and  hence  some  lively  classmate  gave  out  the 
following  epigram :  — 


96  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 

" '  Kittery  and  York,  't  is  said. 

For  Simplon's  birth  content ; 
The  strife  is  sliarp,  and  Kittery  wins. 
But  York  comes  off  the  best.' 

"  Now  it  is  not  my  opinion  that  Lebanon  or  Dartmouth  has  ever  given 
occasion  for  quite  such  pleasantry  as  this.  Or,  if  it  were  so,  I  should 
not  choose  to  speak  of  it  in  such  a  company.  I  have  to  say  what  is  to 
better  purpose,  viz :  That  your  list  of  graduates  is  one  of  which  any 
town  or  college  may  be  proud.  It  were  impossible  to  speak  of  them  now 
in  detail.  But  they  would  bear  the  criticism  of  the  world  ;  from  those 
old  schoolmen,  dead,  the  Woods  and  Harrises,  who  have  left  a  shining 
mark  in  the  history  of  their  times,  down  to  the  mediaeval  period  of  her 
Young,  and  the  living  men  so  well  represented  by  the  honored  and  be- 
loved Orator  of  to-day.  Had  Lebanon  and  Dartmouth  done  no  more 
than  to  send  out  such  a  company,  that  alone  would  make  them  worthy 
of  record  among  the  true  benefactors  of  mankind. 

"  Mr.  President,  we  joyfully  this  day  cement  the  fellowship  and 
friendship  of  Lebanon  and  Dartmouth.  I  speak  for  Dartmouth.  Send 
us  still  your  young  men,  and  we  will  nourish  them.  That  kind  of  pat- 
ronage is  not  all  we  want,  but  it  tells  most  upon  the  world.  It  is  bet- 
ter even  than  wild  lands  —  though  possibly  not  better  than  would  be 
the  confidence  and  rational  patronage  of  the  State.  But  let  what  will 
betide,  Dartmouth  will  be  for  the  State,  and  the  whole  of  it ;  not  for 
sect  or  party,  but  mankind." 

10.  "  The  Farmers  and  Mechanics  of  Lebanon — none  better."  Ke- 
sponded  to,  in  behalf  of  the  farmers,  by  Daniel  Kichardson,  Esq., 
who  said :  "Now  you  will  see  the  difference  between  knowledge  and 
ignorance  —  alluding  to  the  learned  gentlemen  who  preceded  him.  I 
have  been  a  farmer  all  my  life,  and  have  not  had  the  advantages  of  ed- 
ucation. I  cannot  make  a  speech.  I  may  say  in  behalf  of  the  farm- 
ers, that  we  are  under  great  obligations  to  them.  They  have  cleared 
away  the  forests,  subdued  the  wild  soil,  and  brought  it  into  the  service 
of  man  —  made  room  for  these  many  pleasant  homes.  It  is  the  ambi- 
tion of  farmers  to  raise  the  largest  ox,  the  best  horse,  the  fattest  hog, 
or  largest  crop.  In  old  times  they  took  pride  in  one  other  thing  —  in 
raising  up  the  largest  and  best  families.  Let  their  posterity  imitate 
them." 

For  the  mechanics,  Mr.  L.  F.  Brooks — one  of  them  —  briefly  re- 
sponded with  a  handsome  tribute  to  their  skill. 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.  97 

11.  "The  President  of  the  United  States"  In  response  to  this 
toast,  Hon.  A.  H.  Cragin  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States  is  the  legal  and  constitutional 
head  of  the  government.  He  is  the  agent  of  the  people  —  the  execu- 
tive of  the  Constitution  and  laws,  and,  as  such,  is  entitled  to  respect. 
The  present  Chief  Magistrate  was  elected  by  a  constitutional  vote,  in 
due  form  of  law,  and  is  therefore  as  justly  entitled  to  administer  the 
government  as  ever  was  Washington  or  Jackson.  He  has  his  commis- 
sion from  the  same  authority,  and  is  alike  responsible.  He  is  clothed 
with  all  the  powers  conferred  by  the  Constitution,  and  is  under  the  most 
solemn  oath  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  that  Constitution. 

"  It  is  manifestly  the  duty  of  those  whose  agent  he  is,  at  all  times  to 
aid  the  President  in  the  discharge  of  his  proper  duties,  and  to  strength- 
en and  uphold  his  hands  in  support  of  the  government  which  he  is  called 
upon  to  administer. 

"  The  present  occupant  of  the  Presidential  chair  entered  upon  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  under  the  most  extraordinary  and  trying  circum- 
stances. Dissatisfied  with  the  result  of  the  late  Presidential  election,  a 
portion  of  the  people  in  the  Southern  States,  regardless  of  their  consti- 
tutional obligations,  defied  the  will  of  the  majority,  and  were  conspiring 
to  destroy  the  government.  They  had  boldly  raised  the  flag  of  rebel- 
lion and  resistance.  Men  were  in  arms  against  the  government  that 
had  so  long  afforded  them  protection.  Treason  was  doing  its  work. 
Forts  had  been  captured,  arsenals  had  been  plundered  of  arms  and  mu- 
nitions of  war ;  national  ships  had  been  seized  and  employed  by  the  in- 
surgents ;  treasuries  and  mints  with  vast  sums  of  money  had  been  em- 
bezzled and  appropriated  for  the  support  of  rebellion  ;  the  national  flag 
had  been  insulted,  and  the  Union  pronounced  a  curse. 

"  Such  was  the  state  of  things,  and  worse  than  this,  when  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  He  appealed  to  the  reason  and  patriotism  of  the  misguided  people, 
and,  by  the  memories  of  the  past,  the  hopes  of  the  future,  and  the 
graves  of  the  patriotic  dead,  called  upon  all  true  citizens  to  rally  in  sup- 
port of  the  Union  and  the  laws  of  the  land.  His  patriotic  and  paternal 
appeal  was  derided  by  the  traitors.  The  government  'paused,  while  the 
work  of  destroying  the  Union  went  on.  The  gallant  little  band  in 
Fort  Sumter,  hemmed  in  by  a  wall  of  iron  batteries,  were  on  the  point 
of  starvation.  The  government,  at  the  last  moment,  resolved  to  supply 
13 


98  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 

the  fort  with  provisions.  When  this  purpose  became  known,  ten  thou- 
sand rebels  opened  a  deadly  fire  upon  less  than  one  hundred  starving 
defenders  of  the  Union.  The  fort  surrendered,  but  instantly  the  coun- 
try was  aroused.  The  war  for  the  Union  began.  The  President  called 
for  75,000  volunteers,  and  forthwith  they  were  ready.  More  were 
called  for,  and  to-day  300,000  men  are  under  arms  for  the  defence  of 
the  Union. 

"  The  spectacle  of  the  uprising  of  the  people  is  truly  magnificent.  The 
North  is  nearly  a  unit  in  their  patriotic  efforts  to  support  the  President 
in  his  determination  to  preserve  the  Union.  Party  lines  are  oblitei-ated, 
and  all  classes  vie  with  each  other  in  their  zeal  to  maintain  the  govern- 
ment. There  is  but  one  voice  heard,  and  that  is,  that  the  Union 
'  must  and  shall  be  preserved!  ' 

11  This  government  was  formed  after  great  sacrifice,  and  at  a  very 
great  cost.  We  have  been  accustomed  to  applaud  its  founders,  as  wise 
and  patriotic  men,  and  to  cherish  the  inheritance  which  they  left  us,  as 
of  priceless  value.  It  has  already  performed  a  great  mission,  but  its 
work  is  only  begun.  To  the  union  of  these  States  the  nation  owes  its 
unprecedented  increase  in  population,  its  surprising  development  of  ma- 
terial resources,  its  rapid  augmentation  of  wealth,  its  happiness  at  home, 
and  its  honor  abroad.  The  light  of  our  example  has  illumined  the 
whole  earth,  and  to-day  the  hopes  of  the  world,  for  the  preservation  of 
liberty  and  free  government  centre  in  the  pi-eservation  of  this  Union. 
God  helping  us,  we  will  preserve  it. 

"  If  this  Union  perish  now,  it  will  be  the  most  stupendous  failure 
that  the  world  ever  saw ;  and  it  must  be  inferred  that  our  national  sins 
have  become  so  great  in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  that  God  can  no  longer 
withhold  his  vengeance. 

"  Trusting  that  the  same  wise  Providence  which  sanctioned  the  work 
of  our  fathers  in  the  Revolution,  has  much  to  accomplish  for  his  own 
glory,  and  the  benefit  of  mankind  through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
government,  I  believe  the  Union  will  be  preserved. 

"  1  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  purposes  of  God  are  visible  in  this 
causeless  rebellion.  There  is  no  accounting  for  it  from  the  usual  mo- 
tives for  human  actions.  '  Whom  the  gods  destroy  they  first  make 
mad,'  is  a  familiar  adage.  I  accept  the  fact  as  the  manifest  work  of 
Providence,  and  fully  believe  it  portends  no  ultimate  evil  to  our  country, 
or  the  inalienable  rights  of  man." 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.  99 

12.  "The  Stars  and  Stripes.      They  have  floated  over  our  cradles 
—  let  it  be  our  prayer  and  our  endeavor  that  they  shall  float  over  our 
graves." 

Song  by  Messrs.  Ingalls  and  Alden,  Mrs.  Davis  and  Miss  Porter,  — 
"  Star  Spangled  Banner." 

13.  "  The  Staple  Products  of  New  England  : 

•'  Land —  hard  to  till,  and  piled  with  granite  gray, 
Men — hard  to  kill,  harder  to  drive  away." 

VOLUNTEER    TOASTS. 

By  Eobert  Kimball,  Esq.     "  The  Memory  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

"  Brief  and  eventful  was  his  bold  career, 
An  iron  will,  a  soul  devoid  of  fear  ; 
Wrong  —  he,  perchance,  has  been  in  time  now  past ; 
Right  —  minds  like  his  will  surely  prove  at  last." 

' '  Lebanon  and  Hartford  chartered  the  same  day  ;  settled  by  liberty- 
loving  pioneers  from  the  same  town  in  Connecticut,  situated  side  by 
side  in  the  same  charming  valley  ;  may  their  united  devotion  to  the 
great  interests  of  religion  and  constitutional  freedom  be  as  constant  as 
the  flow  of  the  noble  river  which  beautifies  their  banks."  Responded  to 
by  D.  B.  Dudley,  of  Hartford,  Vt. 

Letters  were  received  from  many  gentlemen,  natives  of  the  town,  ex- 
pressing their  interest  in  the  celebration,  and  regretting  their  inability 
to  share  in  the  occasion.  From  Rev.  E.  L.  Magoon,  of  Albany  ;  from 
Maj.  Henry  L.  Kendrick,  of  West  Point,  offering  the  following  senti- 
ment :  "  My  Native  Town.  Her  children  rise  up  to  do  her  honor  and 
reverence."  From  John  Potter,  Esq.,  of  Augusta,  Me.,  with  the  senti- 
ment :  "  The  Land  where  our  venerated  Forefathers  sleep,  and  the  cher- 
ished Birthplace  of  their  Descendants.  Let  liberty  and  union  be  for- 
ever inscribed  upon  her  annals,  and  preserved  as  a  precious  inheritance 
to  the  latest  generation,  by  her  sons."  From  Mr.  J.  A.  Durkee,  Esq.,  of 
New  York  :  "  The  Star- Spangled  Banner  and  the  next  Centennial  An- 
niversary. May  the  rays  of  the  sun  which  rises  on  the  next  centennial 
anniversary,  shine  upon  that  banner  with  its  stripes  unsullied  and  stars? 
undimmed  ;  waving  over  a  happy  people,  bound  by  no  chain  but  the 
silken  cord  of  brotherly  affection,  and  no  bond  but  peace,  no  creed  but 
love  to  God  and  good- will  to  men." 


100  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 

Also  letters  from  H.  It.  Stevens,  Esq.,  and  Wm.  D.  Ticknor,  of  Bos- 
ton, and  Capt.  James  Benton,  of  the  U.  S.  Army.  At  a  late  hour  the 
company  broke  up,  after  singing  Old  Hundred. 

COMMITTEE    OF    ARRANGEMENTS. 

E.  P.  LISCOMB, 

C.  C.  BENTON, 

JOHN  CLOUGH. 

RUFUS  CASE, 

SAMUEL  WOOD,  2d. 

WILLIAM  S.  ELA,        ^) 

SOLON   A.  PECK,  >  Selectmen. 

OLIVEK  L.  STEARNS,  J 

CHARLES  A.  DOWNS,  1 

GEORGE  W.  BAILEY,  f  Secretartes- 


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